


You Are Not Alone

by PoisionedNightshade



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben is a Good Brother, Blaming, Counting calories, Five Whump, Five needs a hug, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus is a good brother, No Incest, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Other, Pre-Series, Sibling Bonding, Slight torture, Whump, all of the hargreeves children need hugs, ben is just doing his best, eating problems, five is too stubborn and prideful, five needs help, klaus is just doing his best, low key child abuse tbh, mentions of torture, nothing sexual or anything, they are all twelve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2019-11-15 03:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18066128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PoisionedNightshade/pseuds/PoisionedNightshade
Summary: Something bad happens to Five when they are twelve. His siblings want to help, but Five is too prideful to admit he needs any assistance. He needs to know he's not alone. The road to recovery was long, with his mental and physical wounds, but his brothers and sisters want him to know that he's not in it alone.(I suck at summaries)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry about my choppy writing. It's gonna be a little cliche and fluffy. :) I hope you enjoy! (This is before the series, Five decides to time travel in about a year)

     Five awoke to a feeling of warmth and overwhelming heat. He felt as if he were sweltering under the uncomfortable heat of his body. Blankets that were thrown on top of him excessively, to prevent him from getting chilled during the night; as if he could be anywhere near cold with this number of blankets. Five swallowed dryly, his mouth felt like cotton, his throat parched and longing for water. That was what he needed. He would force himself up to get water. Presumably, the way he looked did no justice to how the adolescent felt. There was a sharp pain behind his eye sockets, his finger tips and toes felt oddly cold and numb, in defiance of the warmth surrounding him. There was a dull ache across his body, and an irritating ringing in his ears, low, but present nonetheless, and incredibly vexing as well. Five did his best to slowly peel off the layers of covers and shivered even when his feet made contact with the algid material of the floor. Five grimaced, hand instinctively moving to cover his abdomen; almost defensively. Five inhaled deeply, and let out a shaky breath. He was too young for this, wasn’t he?

     Five glimpsed at his clock, illuminating the otherwise dark and tenebrous room. Seeing the numbers on the clock made Five’s heart sink, his eyes were tired and sore, his body was laden with sleep deprivation, and all he got was less than two hours of sleep? Five felt like crying, but decided against it. There was no way he should show weakness like that, especially with something so miniscule and unimportant; that’s what his father would call it anyways. But still, Five yearned for sleep, yet it evaded him every passing night since…that happened. Five shook his head, hastily trying to rid his memory and abused mind of all that he had been through. The screams that echoed in his mind just never left him. His screams. Five squeezed his eyes shut, doing everything in his power to control his breathing. He exhaled through his mouth. Five shut his mouth and inhaled softly through his nose and counted to four. He held his breath for seven seconds, and then exhaled fully through his mouth, counting to eight. This slowed his erratic heart rate.

     Five pressed one of his hands against his forehead, his sweaty hand meeting his clammy forehead, and the boy rubbed with his thumb and his middle finger in a circular motion, tying to sooth the unpleasant headache that was very prominent in the boy’s temples. Five’s finger brushed against something on the side of his forehead, something that didn’t belong there. Five scowled, and pulled whatever it was off of his head and squinted at it in the dark of his bedroom. It seemed to be a patch with a wire connected. Five’s frown deepened when he realized it was probably the old man, conducting ‘experiments’ on him whilst he slept, monitoring his brain waves or some crap like that. He probably did it with the others as well. Unfortunately, the sight of it re-established memories that Five had tried to keep subdued. All Five could think of now was pain. It coursed up and down his body, striking at his already weak and tender wounds, increasing the agony tenfold. The pain he had experienced that day was unlike any he had ever felt before. Unique, in some strange way, yet horrendous. The mere thought of it made Five want to reel back, squirm and shout for help. He felt so weak. So pathetic. His father was right, he needed to grow up.

     That thought was shoved roughly to the back of his mind as he tried to focus on the current situation. Five gasped at the phantom pains and slipped off of his bed, landing on his knees painfully with a loud, and resounding thud. Five felt like such a child, curled up on the cold ground in a fetal position, trembling from the pain that came in waves, taking Five’s breath each time, hardly giving him an opportunity to regain it. Water forgotten, Five chewed his lip, eyes clenched shut tightly as he tried to overcome the anguish that attacked him so suddenly. He could do this. He could get past this on his own, he just needed to remain quiet, not awaken any of his siblings. Five winced as an audible cry rushed passed his lips unwillingly. Five mentally cursed. He saw a light past him, shining through the darkness of his room. Five couldn’t move. He was embarrassed, and frankly in far too much pain. Five heard footsteps approaching, and waited in apprehension until he felt a hand brush across his cheek gently.

     “Five…are you alright?”

It was Ben.

…what did he expect him to say to that? Five grit his teeth together and managed a nod.

     “Y-yes…I’m fine…”

     Ben huffed in annoyance and gingerly slid his arms under Five’s armpits, carefully trying to pull him up without jostling him too much. If Five were in any better condition, he would have pushed away from the contact. It made him feel sick. Five coughed quietly, heaving a rather large breath when Ben pulled him to lean against the side of his bed. And then Ben’s face appeared in front of him, eyes wide with concern. Ben took a quick glance around the room, relieved to find no intruders or anything unwelcome. Ben then checked Five over, much to Five’s disapproval. Discovering no new injuries and no stitches burst open, Ben seemed to finally relax a little.

     “I’m fine.” Five finally said more clearly, gaining his bearings a little better. “Go back to bed.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Why do you insist on being so prideful all of the time? Can’t you just admit that you’re in pain or something?”

Five drew his lips into a thin line, eyes narrowing; this was an expression that Ben was becoming more and more familiar with, especially over the course of the last few days.  
“Look, Five…you’ve been through a lot.” Ben said, albeit a little awkwardly. “I just want to help. Please. What can I do for you?”

     Five cast his gaze to the floor. If there was one thing he absolutely did not want, it was to have the conversation that was slowly being brought up. No way would Five talk about what happened. Especially not at three in the morning with Ben on the floor of his bedroom. But, Five finally submitted. “Actually…some water…”

     “Water? You got it.” Ben stood up and quietly walked to the door, “Uh…I’ll be back in just a few minutes. Sorry in advance if I get caught.”

     Five shrugged and watched as Ben left the room. He sighed heavily, body relaxing further against the side of the bed. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically. He had gone through a lot lately. And he was just getting more and more sympathy. The only sense of normality was his father, coarse and cruel as ever. A few nights ago, Five had almost been brought to tears in a moment of weakness – well, this whole ordeal was weakness really – and his father had hardly noticed or cared. He had told Five it was utterly pointless to cry about something that had already happened, and that he couldn’t change anyways. He needed to grow up. He had only recently turned twelve, and his father was correct. Five needed to stop day dreaming and get real. Focus on what really mattered: improving his abilities.

     Sometimes, Five wished for a regular life. Live with his family, wear clothes like a regular child, play games and eat whenever, have a great relationship with his father…but that wouldn’t ever happen. It was just a daydream, a fantasy that would never, ever come true. All he was doing by thinking about it constantly, was hindering himself. He didn’t have that life, he had this one. There was no reason for him to be so hung up on it, especially since he literally could do nothing to change it. So, Five needed a resolve. He needed to counted on himself, and not so much others. If he had just relied on himself instead of the rest of his siblings, then he wouldn’t have gotten into such a huge mess. Of course, he blamed himself for what had happened, but some of him wanted to blame his siblings and father. They could have prevented it so easily, yet they had let it happen. All of them had abilities. Diego could have just thrown knives to stop those men, Allison could have tricked them. Any of them could have done something. They never paid attention when it mattered the most.

     All of them cared too much about themselves in some of those situations, that’s something that made Five better than them, besides his spectacular abilities. They had come after him. Five exhaled, maybe he had a superiority complex. He didn’t know, nor did he care all that much. If he didn’t step up, take lead, get serious and discard his childishness, something like this would happen again; he couldn’t let something like this happen to the rest of his siblings. It caused a fragility in Five’s strength. Five stared at the ground in front of him, the dark floor lit up because of the hallway light. What was he going to do? He blinked back to reality when Ben returned with the water, panting as he tried not to spill any of it. The boy knelt and re located the water into Five’s hands.

     It was then that Five noticed how much his hands were trembling, the water inside of the pristine glass bouncing up and down like the angry waves of a storm in the ocean. Five slowly brought the quivering glass to his mouth, the coolness of the cup coming into contact with his dry lips, inducing an involuntary shiver. The water rushed passed his tongue as he gulped it down eagerly, refreshing and restoring a comfortable feeling in his mouth and throat. Despite the thirst-quenching drink, Five was hit with a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea. Ben observed the change in Five’s expression and smiled softly.

     “Careful, don’t drink too fast. You’ll make yourself feel sick.”

     “…thanks, mom.” Five murmured, the glass resting on his chin, each of his words dripping with sarcasm.

Ben responded with an exaggerated eye roll and took the glass from Five when he was finished drinking. Five averted his eyes when Ben tried to make contact.

     “Hey…” Ben said. “…I know you want to be solitary and all…but, seriously, if you need to talk…I’m here for you. All of us are.”

Five hesitated before letting his mouth drop open. He considered it a moment, before remembering his previous thoughts. He pulled his jaw taut, eyebrows furrowing and face contorting to something close to irritation.

     “Thanks,” replied Five. “but no thanks.”

Ben’s expression saddened a little but he smiled anyways, smile stretching to his eyes; genuine. Shuffling at the doorframe brought both Ben’s and Five’s attention to the source of the sound.

     “Diego?” Ben inquired.

     “I heard a noise…” Diego responded groggily.

     “Hm. You’re a little late.”

     “I had to find my knives!” Diego argued, yawning and rubbing his eyes before his stare locked on Five, his eyes scrutinizing him. “You okay, Five?”

Five suppressed another eyeroll that threatened and pulled at his eyes. “Yes.”

Diego looked unsure, and exchanged glances with Ben. This, of course, ignited anger in Five. He was fine, did they not believe him? Where did the trust go? Had it ever even been there? Five was having difficulty trusting them too. There were other things for them to bring their attention too, like themselves.

     “Now, go away. I want to sleep.”

     That wasn’t a lie. Five did want to sleep, desperately. He doubted that he would, but some time alone would be a little nice. He didn’t know how much more of this he could stand. He appreciated his siblings concern, but at the same time, couldn’t they just leave him alone? He would if any of them had gone through something that he did.  
Ben got up tentatively, he offered his hand to Five, to help him back into his bed. Five just looked at it a moment, before forcing his injured body up on his own, trying to show Ben that he could handle himself. Ben did look a little hurt, which Five couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for, but he had to assert himself. He would never get through this if his siblings kept coddling him. He needed to make himself stronger through this. Five grimaced as he climbed back into his own bed, and then looked towards the door, Diego and Ben gave him one more uncertain look before shutting the door. Five pulled a few of the many covers up again, and rested his head against his pillow; he had found it very comfortable before what had happened, now it felt like a rock. Five’s neck ached.

Outside the door, Ben and Diego stood awkwardly for a few seconds.

     “What is his problem?” Diego asked suddenly. “You’d think after that, that he would be a little less apathetic.”

     “Give him some time. He just needs to figure out how to get through the emotions he’s going through.”

     “Don’t we all…” Diego muttered, clearing his voice before turning to his room. “We’re gonna get in trouble if we stand out here and talk all night.”

     “Yeah…hey, don’t blame yourself though, okay? It wouldn’t be fair. It’s all of our faults if anything.”

     “Maybe.” Diego murmured. “Okay…uh, night, I guess.”

     Ben watched as Diego pulled yanked the door to his room closed. The boy sighed, for what seemed like the millionth time that evening. He sadly ran his eyes up and down Five’s closed door, fingers shaking as he closed them into a small fist. A shudder ran through his body; why did this happen? And to Five? Ben knew he should take his own advice, not blame himself, but it was difficult. If only he had been paying attention. Five would have never been tested like that. He never would have been injured. What happened to Five, was nothing that a twelve-year-old kid should have to endure; though in all honesty, the Hargreeves children had to withstand a lot with their father constantly pushing their limits. All of them, except for Vanya, had been forced to use their power to the fullest extent. Ben had seen Klaus quivering in absolute terror, Luther had finished an exercise with their father, muscles aching and body utterly exhausted, Ben himself had even had to brave through the tough as he managed to control his own ability. Allison and Diego both had faced their own separate hardships, Allison had basically conquered her power, and Diego only needed encouragement and reassurance, something he usually got from Grace. And Five. Even though he hid it well, Ben had seen him after so much time jumping across the manor at their father’s instruction, each time going further than he had before. Five never looked quite right after those. Ben swore he saw him in the bathroom at one point, hurling his guts out. Ben would have comforted his brother, had Vanya not been there instead.

     Vanya, of course, continuously criticized by their father for not having any special abilities. Ben had no idea what to do about it, he wished he was better with words, he would approach her about it, she was still his sister. Basically, they had all gone through a lot. Pain and fatigue. But nothing that they had gone through could prepare any of them for what had happened. They, of course, knew the risks when it came to vigilantism. They knew that any one of them could sustain an injury, and they were, of course, young. All of them, no matter how much they would argue about it, were naïve. The siblings, especially Five, relied on their abilities so much and thought they were so great that nothing could ever happen to them. They were wrong. Something did happen. Father had told them it was to be expected. That they shouldn’t be so concerned about it, that it happens in this line of work. No way. They were children. Admittedly, children with more advanced IQ’s and supernatural abilities, but still children. And torture was a difficult subject for anyone sane, at least in Ben’s opinion.

     “Ben? What are you doing up still?” Came a quiet, sweet voice.

Ben jumped but turned in the direction of the voice, smiling tiredly at Grace who was looking at him fondly, a beaming expression on her face.

     “Why are you out here in the hallway?” She asked in a whisper, placing her hand on his back.

     “Sorry, mom…I was just checking up on Five.” He replied honestly as Grace led him back to his room.

     “Well, that’s all fine. But it’s late and you’re a growing. Growing boy’s need their sleep.” She advised, proceeding to Ben’s bed and tucking him in.

     “Thanks mom.”

     Grace ran a hand through Ben’s hair and rubbed his cheek with her thumb gently before turning and wishing him a goodnight and finally exiting the room. Grace then moved to Five’s room, quieter than a mouse, she twisted the door knob, and peered in. Five seemed to be tying to sleep, restlessly it appeared. Grace’s facial expression faltered for a moment to see Five in such distress. The robot contemplated entering, but ultimately decided against it. Going in would possibly disrupt Five’s attempted sleep even more than it already was, and after all, she just wanted the best for him and the rest of her children.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Got that chapter out fast! Sorry for potential OOCness, with Reginald or any of that....

 

                Five couldn’t find much solitude in the house. With Klaus running around like a moron, Luther and Diego constantly bickering, as well as the violin played by Vanya – something that Five found pretty soothing now made him unnerved. That was all per usual, the chaos that Five had become so accustom too was now driving him insane. What was worse, was the expressions that he would receive just entering a room. Every one would stop what they were doing to look at him, their expressions struck with _pity_ and _sympathy_. It was absolutely infuriating to Five. Did they think he couldn’t take care of himself? The first few days back were the hardest for Five. Their father, begrudgingly, had forbidden Five the use of his abilities for a week. Neither of them were happy about that. Pogo had told him it was to prevent further injuries, or from opening any stitches, but it still made Five disconcerted and offended. Watching the rest of his sibling’s practice with their abilities, besides Vanya of course, it just made Five resentful.

 

                Thanks to last night’s trouble and disturbed sleep, Five was exhausted. So, he had decided to get out of his bed early, before his siblings had arisen, and retreated to the bathroom before the day’s conventional pandemonium began. Five watched as the bathtub filled with steaming water, waiting until it was full enough to immerse himself in it. Five, as he was waiting, turned up the small portable radio he had brought in with him, letting the early morning music hit his ears. He wasn’t usually one for listening to music, especially not rock, but this whole week had become an exception for him. He was doing things that didn’t follow his general schedule. Five removed his clothing, and looked at himself in the mirror, eyes examining his own body, still clad in bandages. The boy just huffed in annoyance and began to tenderly unwrap them. Some had small red stains, blooming like roses in the spring, where blood had leaked through the white dressings. Five tried not to be unhinged by the state of his body. His expression had turned downwards, and he stared at himself with a frown. Lacerations and gashes painted his body like a work of art, bruises blossomed around his body, each with its own pattern and discoloration. Even his face had a few contusions, his jaw line still slightly swollen and angry. Five sighed and blinked his eyes a few times, and focused on the bathtub.

 

                Gingerly, Five placed one foot in, the hot water rushed over some of his minor injuries around his shins and calves. Five then placed both hands on either side of the tub and gently lowered himself in, hissing at the stinging of the water meeting his injuries. A soft moan escaped his lips as he was fully in, his abused back resting against the side of the tub. Five’s lips quivered as he adjusted the water, and eventually breathed another sigh. Soft music echoed in his ears, and for once in a long while, Five felt relaxed. Five began to doze off, thinking about how cruel his body was. Five’s mind was taken over by dreams, they began innocent enough at first, but then escalated quickly. A feeling of dread and hopelessness rose in his body. He panicked, as he tried to use his abilities but found he could not. He was distressed as he tried to contemplate how that was even possible. Five was mortified as he had lost use of his arms and legs, finding they had been completely restrained, a strip of something had been placed on the right side of his head, and from that one small strip: _pain_. Absolute agony. It had been unlike anything Five had felt before, small bullet grazes and the fists of his enemies could never be as painful. Five saw bright lights, flickering, he saw a sadistic smile. Needles, scalpels, wires, assortments of tools…he heard a scream. It had taken him a while to realize it was _his_ scream. Through it all, he was weak and pathetic. The disuse of his abilities was torture. He had never in his life been in a situation he couldn’t get out of by jumping. Five thrashed, he cried for help, screamed…what more could he do?

 

                Five awoke to his own cry. He abruptly clamped his jaw closed, squeezing his eyes so tight he saw colors other than black. The water of the tub had become lukewarm, Five could only assume he had been in there for at least an hour. The boy tightened his hands into fists, and pulled them up against his chest, and curled as much as he could in water that splashed at him from any movement. Five bit his bottom lip, trying to quiet the moans and whines that attempted to force themselves out. Gradually, Five re-opened his eyes, noticing the water was less clear, and more of a tainted brownish color. Flecks of scabs from wounds that had tried to close up rested at the bottom of the tub, Five was disgusted. He pulled himself out of the tub, exerting himself a great amount for a task so miniscule. He panted as he wrapped a towel around his waist, and sat on the tiled ground, body trembling from the dream. Perhaps that was why he couldn’t sleep. His body refused to go to bed because maybe Five subconsciously knew that he would have a nightmare.

 

                Five felt dizzy, groggy almost. He had trouble concentrating on anything but the wall in front of him. He heard a noise from the door, and eyes tiredly moved to the noise, finding Luther standing in the doorway. Strange, Five thought he had locked the door for sure. Luther made his way to Five tentatively, kneeling so that he was at level with the shivering boy. Five felt groggy, it was difficult to focus. The cold air around him nipped at his wet skin, chilling him to the bone. Five watched Luther as his brother examined his body. Five was too tired to stop him so instead he just sighed and looked back towards the wall in front of him.

 

“Don’t you have anything else to do than look at me?” Five asked weakly, his small voice surprising Luther.

 

                His brother jumped slightly and cleared his throat, “Um…sorry. It’s just, I’ve been looking for you all morning and…well--”

 

“I’m fine. Stop worrying.” Five interrupted, grunting as he pulled himself to his feet, right hand gripping the towel tightly. “So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get dressed.”

 

 As Five was getting up, though, a sudden ache rang through his body. A particularly large wound on his hip flared up in pain. Five grit his teeth as his breath was taken away due to the pain. He gripped the towel so hard his knuckles turned white. He felt himself swaying, and then strong hands grasped his forearms. Five tried to push his attention to that, but was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the pain at the current point in time. When it finally subsided, Five unwillingly met the gaze of Luther, who had a look beyond worried plastered onto his expression.

 

 “L-let go of me.” Five flinched away from the hands that were wrapped around his arms and took a defensive step back.

 

 Luther hesitantly released his brother but continued to stand in the freezing boy’s way. “Five, you need to get your injuries dressed…I can help if you want me too.”

 

 “No thank you. I can handle it myself.” Five said as he walked past his brother. 

 

 “But the ones on your back--”

 

“I _said_ I can handle it myself.” Five hissed, shooting Luthor the best glare he could muster.

 

                Luther was left alone in the bathroom, listening to his brothers retreating footsteps. Number one bit his lip, his scowl deepening as he looked at the tainted bath water. He had come looking for Five. Each morning for the past week, he had checked Five was in his room before going onto his regular schedule, or rather, his _father’s_ regular schedule. This morning Five wasn’t in his bedroom. So Luthor had instantly started panicking. He searched the whole entire house for him, until he heard a cry from the bathroom and went to check it out. That was when he found Five sitting on the bathroom floor, shaking and soaked. This whole thing hadn’t been easy on Luther, nor the others. But Luthor couldn’t help but blame himself. Five was different than before. The smugness and cockiness were still there, which was oddly a comfort, but Five seemed more distant than before. Physical touch seemed to repel the boy, that was something that Luther observed. Five would tense up when people got too close to him, and shy away when people actually touched him. Luther saw the fear flash in Five’s eyes, for just a second.

 

                Luther snapped himself back to reality and exited the bathroom. He spent a few minutes getting prepared for the day, trying to distract himself from the worry and guilt that was building up in him quickly. When it came time for breakfast, Five’s chair was absent. All of them took notice, including their father. The order came for them to sit, and then eat, but Luthor didn’t have much of an appetite. He picked at his food cautiously, slowly stabbing his utensil into the food that Grace had prepared. Luthor hardly noticed when Five entered the room. He gradually walked to the table, hair still damp from the bath, and expression tired and worn. Against his pale skin, the bruises and bags under his eyes appeared much more prominent than they actually were.

 

 “Number Five, you are late.” Reginald said disapprovingly, breaking his own rule of speaking.

 

“I’m sorry, sir.” Five replied quietly, taking a seat, eyes falling to the food on his plate.

 

“Explanation.”

 

“I was getting dressed.” Five responded. “It took me longer than I had expected.”

 

                Reginald didn’t seem satisfied, but obviously didn’t care all that much as he turned back to his own food and became uncaring as the sound of a radio began. The eyes in the room, besides their father of course, turned back to Five, who was sitting in silence and staring at his untouched food. Five’s hands rested in his lap, his eyes resting on the food that sat in front of him. Despite the rumbling of his empty stomach, his appetite was completely absent. Diego, who sat to Five’s left, eyed his brother suspiciously, looking from Five’s food to his face. And Vanya, who sat at the end of the table, was also watching Five, worry etched into her soft features. She looked like she wanted to say something so bad, to urge and encourage Five to eat, but she knew if she interrupted their fathers listening, then she would regret it the rest of the day. Five could practically _feel_ the eyes of his siblings baring into him. It was just provoking exasperation. Couldn’t they tell? Five unhurriedly reached for his fork, lifting his arm to do so. He cut into his food and skewered it on the prongs of his fork. As he brought it to his mouth, he felt like he was some kind of movie star, his siblings, though they tried to remain inconspicuous, were all watching him with great intent. Five felt the spot light on him, and for once he didn’t really want to accept it. In fact, he wished that the others would stop noticing him so much.

 

                Five bit the scarce amount of food off of his fork. The egg’s made contact with his tongue, and Five instantly felt ill. His stomach churned at the taste of the egg. It was prepared as a delicacy, and one Five used to enjoy – for the most part – but now, it just brought a feeling of intense nausea. Vanya’s eyebrows furrowed when Five visibly paled, turning white a sheet. Five couldn’t explain the sudden feeling of sickness, but he sure wished that it would go away. He wanted to throw up; could he? Absolutely not. Not at the table. Not in front of his father, or his siblings. This wasn’t quite the daily routine. Five never felt this sick when taking a bite of his food, but he never got more then a few bites down before he had to stop. Food was a difficult thing. For some reason, the sight of it made Five feeble. Five compelled himself not to throw up and forced the food down his throat. Five took a few more bites, thinking of it as a stringent necessity, at least to calm his siblings and their worried glances. Five couldn’t explain how happy he was when breakfast was over.

 

                He thought, maybe he could have a few minutes alone. Since it was time for training, exercise and all that, and Five had been strictly banned from that, he would be able to go and relax by himself for a few minutes, as usual for his schedule as of recent, but was surprised when he was stopped.

               

“Number Five.” Reginald called, “Where do you think you’re going?”

 

Five turned to face his father, confusion struck his expression. “I…thought…do you not want me to rest today?”

 

 “No.” Reginald said. “It is your designated training day. I have something I wish to conduct.”

 

The word ‘conduct’ was a little ominous to Five, but he followed his father anyways, each step a grimace. Five found himself in the basement of the house, staring dumbfounded at a device set up in the room. Reginald entered casually, checking flashing buttons and other mechanical setups, while Five stood, trying not to be shaken or seem afraid. In the room, sat a chair with wooden arms, behind it a glass oval shaped dome, approximately five and a half feet tall. Inside the dome was something that looked almost like a lightening rod, it conducted small volts of electricity. Five was actually trembling; he mentally cursed himself for appearing so weak.

 

 “Number Five, please take a seat.”

 

 “W-what is this…?” Five asked, voice shaky as he followed his father’s instructions and sat in the chair.

 

“I have been looking into the reason of why you were unable to use your abilities while you were in the custody of your captors,” explained Reginald nonchalantly. “I had some of the technology from the lab you were discovered in brought here. Though damaged, I managed to salvage some of it. Now, I would like to figure out if I can get the same result as they did.”

 

 “Why would you want to…?” Five asked bravely.

 

 

                “It could cause a large amount of issues in the future or be of great use to us. Either way, I must make sure it is not so simple to recreate.” Reginald replied indifferently as he placed a small rectangular strip across Five’s forehead, the strip was connected to a wire that led to the dome behind the chair. All of this was all too familiar.

 

                “When I instruct you, I want you to try to jump over there,” Reginald pointed to the corner of the basement. “Do you understand?”

 

Five nodded insecurely, biting the inside of his cheek to keep his lip from quivering. Reginald moved towards some controls, and then pressed a few buttons. Five cried out abruptly as a sudden pain shot through his body, stemming from his head.

               

“Go!”

 

Five didn’t need to be told twice. He was already in the process when Reginald had told him to go. Five jumped away from the strip, the dome, the chair and the pain, and ended up in the corner of the basement, tripping out of his jump and instinctively bringing his knees to his chest. He was so tired all of the sudden. Blood rushed in his ears and his heartbeat was erratic.

 

 “Hm. There must have been something wrong about my calculations.”

 

Five jerked his head to look over at Reginald, eyes wider than saucers. _Something wrong?_ That hurt horribly. Did his father wish to inflict more pain on Five? Reginald raised an eyebrow at Five’s look of disbelief. The boy looked like a cornered animal as Reginald approached him, eyes wild and frantic, yet also terrified beyond belief. Reginald decided he needed to be careful around the boy whilst conducting these experiments.

 

“Number Five.” Five’s eyes met Reginald’s. Reginald felt the slightest ping of sympathy for the boy. “Come, let’s try a couple more times.”

 

                A couple more times, turned into a lot more than a ‘couple’. Five felt exhausted. Every time he dragged himself back to the chair, and then jumped back to the corner of the room, he became more and more tired. Overuse of his abilities, he presumed. The process continued the same for the next thirty minutes. _Sit. Pain. Jump. Repeat._ Five trudged back to the chair; he was beginning to grow a very strong distaste for it. His arms felt heavy, eyelids yearning to shut on him. Five reluctantly sat again and for what had to be the twentieth time, his father replaced the strip on his forehead.

 

“…please…no more.” Five cursed himself inwardly for sounding so weak, but he didn’t know how much more he could take; he had already experienced something like this before, why did he have to go through it again in the own safety of his home?

 

Five could have sworn he saw Reginald’s eyes soften, before they were quickly replaced with the almost tyrannical gaze. “Our time is running short. This will be the last time.”

 

                Five breathed a sigh of relief, fingers gripping the arms of the chair tightly as he awaited the pain once again. And when it came, the breath was knocked out of Five. He distantly heard his father shout for him to jump. Five reached out to his abilities, panicking when he didn’t feel the crackling of power at his fists, or the tug in his stomach. He couldn’t jump. This was too familiar. Five started panicking, the pain only increased the longer he sat there. He couldn’t use his powers, and he was in agonizing pain. He was back, wasn’t he? In the clutches of an almost comic book mad scientist, a sadist. Five opened his mouth, and released a blood curdling scream. This couldn’t be happening, not again. His vision distorted, only seeing the dim white walls, tainted from the splatter of crimson blood; _Five’s blood_. He found his wrists and ankles restrained again, and the feeling of utter hopelessness filled him. He became desperately, back arching against the pain, and body thrashing. He could not breathe. The pain had long sense subsided in its general ferocity, but it still stung.

     

 “Five!”                                                                           

 

                Five tried to focus on the voice that was breaking through his living nightmare. He was having trouble focusing past the cackling and the sound of him trying to gather air. His name was called again, and this time, Five wrenched open his tightly shut eyes and found the faces of Pogo, Grace and Reginald. When did Pogo and Grace get here? Though his father stood a considerable distance away from them, Pogo and Grace were very close to him. Five came back to reality. He was at his home, in the basement. He was feeling the consequences of one of his father’s insane “training exercises”. Five felt horribly nauseous. Possibly a side affect of both the overuse of his powers and the intense pain he had just experienced. He pushed Grace and Pogo aside and stumbled out of the chair. His knees hit the cold basement floor, hands firmly pressed against the floor as he suddenly began to heave. He threw up the small remnants of food he had ingested, retching and coughing while his body still desperately tried to gulp down air. He felt Grace’s hand on his back as he eventually started to dry heave. It was awful. The sickly taste of bile made Five feel even more sick. His throat and dripping nose were on fire, and he felt tears begin to form in his eyes. He willed them to go away, he was stronger than crying. Alas, they refused. They leaked from his clenched eyelids and fell down his face, dripping off of his chin and landing in the small pile of bile on the floor.

 

                Five pushed away from the puddle in disgust, and found himself falling back, halfway leaning on Grace and halfway on the chair. Five inhaled deeply, but it seemed his body wasn’t satisfied. He couldn’t get a proper breath. So, he continuously inhaled, over and over again quickly. He was hyperventilating.

 

 “Five, you need to breathe properly.” Grace said softly, lifting a hand and running it through his hair.

 

                Five inhaled a strangled breath, pushing his head against Grace’s shoulder as he struggled for air.

 

“Exhale completely through your mouth. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.” Pogo instructed.

 

                Five’s scared eyes watched Pogo as he repeated the instructions. Five attempted it. Breathing in, holding, and then releasing. He felt his heartbeat calm a little and repeated the steps. Soon, he was breathing regularly. Five tried, as placidly as he could, to gulp down air as it became available to him. Five lifted his hand to rub the tears off of his face, and planted his palms against his eyes, in a nugatory way of stopping the tears.

 

 “K-Klaus—”

 

 Pogo smiled fondly, “Yes, I was the one who taught Klaus that. I suppose he extended his brotherly hand to you for proper knowledge to slow a heartbeat.”

 

                Indeed, Klaus had taught Five how to breathe when Five had lost control of his breathing after an arduous day of training with his abilities. Five had spent close to half the day jumping long distances, and felt very similar to how he felt now. Klaus had found him in his room, trying to calm down, futilely. Klaus had invaded Five’s personal space and embraced Five, feeding him instructions to breathe. Five, though he had been grateful for his brother’s – for once – wise advice, Five had been a little peeved that Klaus so carelessly entered his room without permission. But it showed Five one of Klaus’ weaknesses. 

 Pogo seemed to recognize the look on Five’s face, and managed to read his thoughts, “Klaus is a good person to go to Master Five. He is more experienced in these things then you would like to know.”

 

                Five nodded soundlessly. His eyes flickered up to his father, who’s back was turned to him and seemed to be examining the machine and deep in thought. Pogo followed Five’s gaze and sighed, “Master Five, I’d say it’s time to re-dress your wounds. I am also declaring your training over for the day.”

 

                Five would have argued, primarily to spare his dignity, had be not been so tired. He couldn’t do any more ‘training’. It was far too much for him now. Five nodded uncertainly, and Grace helped him up from behind. Five could hardly stand, his legs were wobbly and he gaped at the mess he had made on the floor. He instantly became regretful, and his head shot up to look at Reginald’s back, becoming perturbed at the thought of ruining something that belonged to his father. Five opened his mouth to apologize to his father, but no words came out. He looked to Pogo, pleading for help with his eyes. How _embarrassing_. Five never felt so incredibly abashed; he felt like such a child, admittedly, he _was_ still a child. But Five had an advanced IQ, was more knowledgeable than other kids his age and had also had a spectacularly confusing and aberrant life. Pogo smiled at him calmly, somehow his silence told Five he would take care of it. He beckoned towards the exit of the room, and Five felt Grace place her hand on his shoulder. She guided him out of the room and upstairs.

 

Pogo exhaled, exasperated. “Sir Reginald, perhaps that went a little too far.”

 

Reginald said nothing, instead placed his hands behind his back and straightened up a little. Reginald turned towards Pogo, and inspected the small puddle of vomit on dark mahogany wooded floors. Sir Reginald Hargreeves lifted a hand to stroke his chin, easily suppressing the grin that tugged eagerly at his lips.

 

 “It worked because he over exerted himself.” Reginald said softly, continuing after spotting the confused look on Pogo’s face. “Number Five has power limitations, the device used a pattern of waves to exhaust Number Five’s muscles, brain and entire body. The first couple of tries, Number Five was easily able to jump out of the chair. He only endured it for merely a second before his fight or flight response was initiated, and he jumped before I instructed. It seems that when he used his ability to jump too much, that he was unable to jump that last time. The overuse of his abilities combined with the device used to overexert him was too much; therefore, Number Five was helpless to jump away from the device…clever. Quite clever…”

 

 “Demented, Sir Reginald.” Pogo corrected. “This was used as a way to torment the young master. It made him feel vulnerable and helpless. The one that designed this device made it specifically to counteract Master Five’s abilities. Cancel them out and force him to comply.”

 

“I am conscious of that, Pogo.” Reginald responded curtly. “I had to decide for myself if it was something to be concerned about. If one person could make it, perhaps another could as well.”

 

 “Are you worried about someone else creating a device similar, for any of the other children?”

 

 “Not exactly. Number Three can have her abilities subdued with a gag, if she is apprehended. Number Two would just need to be restrained. And Number Four, well. He hasn’t reached the fullest of his potential as of now.”

 

 “Are you worried about One or Six?”

 

                “It is a potential threat. Something like this could not have the exact same effect. Unless mortally wounded, I do not think it could cancel Number One’s ability, and it would be far too difficult for Number Six. It is obvious that this was made specifically for Number Five.” Reginald mused. “I have a strong suspicion that Number Five was monitored without my knowledge. It is the only way for Number Five’s assailant to gain the information that he did. I must do more research into him.”

 

                “He is dead.”

 

 “I’m quite aware.”

 

 Pogo’s attention flickered down to the puddle on the floor, “Do not blame him for that.”

 

                That was when the conversation ended. Reginald turned away from Pogo and left the room, leaving Pogo sighing. What a difficult man. Meanwhile, as Grace walked Five through the house to get to his room, they did not manage to evade one of Five’s siblings. Diego, finishing up a task, halted in his tracks at seeing the sight of Five. He had never seen his brother look so…well, awful – save for when they had found him that one awful day. Five’s eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids were drooping, his usually taut posture was slack, shoulders slumped and back arched forward slightly. He looked disheveled and tired. _What on earth did dad do to him in such a short period of time?_ Diego thought. As Five got closer, Diego did not miss the tear tracks that stained his face, obviously Five had tried to rub them away as his cheeks were red and puffy. Grace was leading him towards the stairs, probably heading in the direction of Five’s room.

 

 “Five, what happened?” He demanded, causing Grace and Five to come to a standstill.

 

                Five looked absolutely ashamed. He averted his gaze to his shoes and fidgeted his hands on either side of him uncomfortably. When Five didn’t answer Diego’s question, he looked up to Grace with a pleading expression.

 

 “Mom?”

 

 “Your brother had a rough time training today. We’re going to get some rest.” Grace replied, her gentle smile in tact and refused to break.

 

                With those words, Grace continued walking. Five didn’t look back at Diego’s bewildered and bothered expression. Five knew that Diego would end up coming to confront him about it. Just thinking that infuriated Five. He wanted to be left alone, especially now. Diego had probably noticed the leftover tears on Five’s face, which was further humiliating for Five to think about. He _was not_ a crybaby. That was Vanya’s area, not his. The two reached Five’s room after what seemed like forever. Grace instructed Five remove his shirt and sit on his bed. Grace left for a quick moment, and returned with bandages and saline; she proceeded to close the door, leaving only a small crack. The robot tisked at the dressing job, which Five had done erroneously. She sat on the bed next to him, humming as she unwrapped the bandages that Five had placed around himself. Once gone, she discarded them and grabbed a cotton swap of saline, and began to dab some of the wounds. Five hissed at the contact of the cleanser and the injuries. As Grace moved down his torso with the saline, she paused at the wound on Five’s hip.

 

 “Oh, this doesn’t look too good.”

                Five glanced down to see what she was talking about. She was right. The particularly large wound on Five’s hip was discolored, and a few of the stitches appeared to have popped, either during Five’s bathtub episode this morning, or what had happened only a few minutes ago. Either way, it needed to be re-stitched, as it slowly leaked blood. Grace looked up at Five and smiled, she lifted her hand and cupped Five’s cheek.

 

“I’m sorry, Five, I’m going to have to re stitch it.”

 

 “I understand.” Five replied, “Just get it over with it.”

 

                Grace looked solemn, for a robot, as she threaded a sterile needle and then looked up at Five before she stuck him and smiled, “Deep breath,” she told him before slowly inserting the needle into Five’s skin. Five hissed and clenched his fists together, the covers of his bed bunching up in his hands. Five bit his lip to keep from crying out, and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Five whimpered in pain and wrenched one eye open to see how far Grace had gotten. To his relief, she seemed to be almost done. This was absolutely _nothing_ , in contrast to what Five had gone through not that long ago, but it still stung. It was still pain. Five was beginning to get used to misery. Five’s gaze flickered to the door when he heard a noise coming from the hallway. He spotted a panic-stricken Klaus peeking in from the small crack between the door and the frame. Five winced deeply as Grace jerked the string, and then cut it off, finishing the job. Grace beamed at Five and sat next to him on the bed.

 

“Klaus dear, you can come in.” She called.

 

                Klaus, even though he had seen Grace’s magnificently keen eye for detail, was still surprised as he entered the room. His fingers twitched anxiously when he spotted Five’s wounds. Klaus rested his thumb and pointer finger against his forearm and restlessly pinched it; it was a bad habit that the Number Four had picked up over the last few years, a way to help him get through the terror of seeing dead people, and a way of dealing with all the crap that father had put him through. Klaus simpered and hesitated by Five’s bed, eyes still locked on Five’s torso. Honestly? Five was too tired to care that Klaus was in his room. He had also taken notice of his brother’s distressed disposition. Grace beckoned for Klaus to come forward, so Klaus did. He raced forward precipitously, jumping on the bed and jostling both Five and Grace. Five hid his grimace, trying to save face for his own dignity. It was silent between the three, but it wasn’t awkward. Five felt comfortable, for once. Grace continued cleaning the remainder of his wounds, at some points, the cleaning generated a few whines of pain to escape Five’s tightly shut lips, during one of those times, Klaus had slipped his hand into Five’s, without invitation, and squeezed it. Five tried to shake Klaus’ hand off, he had jerked away a few times, but it was futile. Klaus’ grip was solid and it was clear that his bizarre brother was not going to let go.

 

                Grace finished elegantly wrapping up Five’s body with a hygienic set of new bandages. Five felt a little relieved. He needed to get better at dressing his own injuries. He had a feeling that he would need to learn that for future use. Five puffed out an exasperated sigh, and turned to look at Klaus, one eyebrow raised in un-amusement and disbelief. “Are you gonna let go?”

 

                Klaus shook his head no, a small, cheeky grin tugging at the corners of his lips. Five groaned. This was going to be a long day. How was he expected to live while there was a _human leech_ attached to him? Five was one hundred percent sure that Klaus was not going to relent anytime soon. His brother broke the norm. He was uncharacteristically quiet. It was strange to Five. Though the silence was almost peaceful at first, the silence from the loudest of the Hargreeves was becoming unnerving to Five. So, ignoring the current situation, which Five would have to deal with soon, he turned to Grace, posing a question he knew that he wouldn’t get a satisfying answer from.

 

                “Do you think…I have what it takes to time travel?” He asked Grace.

 

                Grace, once again, smiled. She caressed his cheek with her thumb, it was a comforting feeling, actually. Five had been having trouble with physical contact, but Grace was alright. She knew just how to calm him. It was almost soothing when she tenderly ran her hand through Five’s hair.

 

                “Why do you ask such a question, Five?” Grace wondered. “You’re such a talented boy. But why would you want to leave us?”

 

Five scowled. _Leave them_? What did that mean? Five didn’t want to leave them, not at all. He just wanted to discover the full extent to his abilities. He was sure he could do it. He _knew_ he could. He felt a squeeze of his right hand and looked over to see Klaus shaking his head desperately. Klaus’ eyebrows were furrowed in an anxious way, eyes pleading. Five knew exactly what that expression meant. It was sincere enough, though. Overlooking it now, he turned back to Grace.

               

“Mom, _please_. Just answer the question how I asked.”

 

                “…Of course you have what it takes.” Grace responded cheerfully. “You have such a spectacular ability. But I wouldn’t get too hung up on it, if I were you. Do not just rely on your abilities solely, remember you can do so much just as _you._ ”

 

                Five stared ahead of him, sighing deeply and casting Grace a half smile. It almost felt fake to Five himself. Five wondered what it would be like if this were any normal kid. What if all that had happened to Five was him falling down and scraping his knee? His mother and brother comforting him on the bed as she cleaned up the diminutive injury. A scraped knee would have been far more desirable than what Five had endured. So why him? Why did Five have to be one of the seven children born with special abilities and an ego the size of Jupiter? He wasn’t kidding himself, he was well aware of his cavalier selfdom. Five knew he should stop investing so much time into his unattainable fantasy. But he just couldn’t help it, he was still a child. He still yearned for knowledge and answers. He wanted it all. It was absolute derisory.

 

 “In the grand scheme of life,” started Five. “what does it even matter? We’re all going to get old and die anyways, so what is the point? Why do we care so much about dying? Are we all that selfish?”

 

                Grace raised an eyebrow at Five’s sudden slur of questions, but her smile remained in-tact -- as always. A small laugh reached Five’s ears as Grace rested her face on her hand. “Where did all that come from?”

 

                Five just scowled.

 

                “Yes, it matters, silly! Life may be a trip you take until demise, but it’s the experiences you’ve made that make it count. Instead of burdening yourself with all these philosophical questions, why don’t you just enjoy yourself? You’ve been given so many opportunities to live your life to the fullest extent. What you do now can impact future generations. It may seem completely futile now, but it does make a difference. No one wants their lives to be cut short. You were given breath for a reason, Five. There are so many chances every day to do something extraordinary, why waste it?”

  


* * *

  


 

                Diego was extremely unnerved. Seeing Five like that was too familiar. He was pacing in his room, it was around nine in the evening. He should be in bed about now. He hadn’t seen Five since the moment that his brother walked past him. Grace had come out of his room with Klaus, telling Diego that Five needed rest. This entire situation seemed unreal to Diego. Their whole lives they had understood the intense risks of their lives. They had relied on their own abilities too much. That was it, right? Did they need to do some soul searching? That was probably something that Klaus had thought of as a good idea, the odd child he was. Diego was having a very hard time trusting dad. He knew Luther had a profound loyalty to Reginald. But Diego wasn’t so devoted. Trust is like paper, once it’s crumbled it can never be perfect. Five had become – somehow – even more withdrawn after the incident. He flinched away at perhaps even the thought of any physical contact, he avoided any eye contact and tried to remain away from the others. It bothered Diego. Five had never been as loud as Klaus, or even _Diego_ himself, but he hadn’t been as quiet as Vanya. Five _always_ had an opinion about something, and if you were willing to test that, he was willing to tell you off just as fast. Diego couldn’t think of a time this week that Five had asserted himself into a conversation and argued. The only thing that Five had argued about was that he ‘was fine’. What a load of crap that was.

 

                Five had a haunted look in his eyes. The twelve-year-old had gone through something traumatic. It wasn’t something that Diego, or any of the others currently, could understand. From an even riper age then they were at, the Hargreeves had been taught that the world was unforgiving and cruel. Never to expect any good from anyone, so none of them would be disappointed when the world and its inhabitants turned on them. It made it easier, actually. Fighting against the forces of evil. They didn’t expect anything good out of them.

 

                Diego scratched his head nervously, trying to decide if he should say anything to Five, try to get him to open up or something. Ha. That would be pointless. Diego had never met someone more stubborn then Five. The boy put up a defensive front, and held strong his façade. It was like, no matter what, no one could know that Five was hurting. That went for both physical and mental issues as well. Diego got very irritated with that. _Of course,_ he loved his brother Five with all his heart, as did the others, but sometimes Five really got under his skin. But lately, the problems that bothered Diego with his brother had changed. Five’s ego wasn’t as much of a concern as of late. Five had been doubting himself greatly. It most definitely had something to do with Five’s capture. But it wasn’t just Five who blamed himself for the event. Diego felt incredibly guilty as well. The whole thing had opened up the entire line of siblings. It would _never, ever_ happen again.

 

                Diego halted for a moment, and glanced to his door. If he couldn’t get Five to speak up on his own, maybe if they had some kind of ‘intervention’, then Five would open up. Five was seriously being a major impertinent jerk. Obviously, that boorishness stemmed from some untouched mental block, or trauma. Diego huffed and made a resolve to talk to at least Allison for starters, she would have a good opinion. Diego wished that those criminals hadn’t all died. Diego would have loved to introduce each and every one of them to his knives. Diego shivered at the memory of finding Five and watching him ruthlessly murder. So much death. Diego rubbed his temples, how was this ever going to resolve itself?

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! We have a flashback in this chapter! I'm sorry in advance, this was kinda difficult to write. Sorry about the weirdness, idk how to not be awkward. There is like...a bit of violence in this chapter, so...I guess if you don't like that don't read...enjoy!

_A week ago..._

The Hargreeves children loved to go out on Saturday’s when they were permitted fun and games. They loved going to Giddy’s doughnuts, eating so much that they felt sick. They enjoyed the day’s they had to be kids and be kids together as a family. Unfortunately, today wasn’t fun and games. Though it was during their time for that, they had a mission to complete. Today was business. Five was a little irritated, it was for the sake of one person’s life though. Five briefly wondered how his father knew of all these things. It wasn’t even being broadcasted, just word across the street, Five presumed as he jumped into the undisturbed office building and opened the locked doors to let his siblings in, as quietly as possible. The way their father had explained it, the CEO of this office building was being threatened. The building was corporate for advanced technology, of course it had peeked Reginald’s interest. This kind of machinery could build high-tech items of mass destruction, it could be potentially dangerous for the Hargreeves.

 

                The lobby of the building was empty, it was Saturday of _course_ it was empty. Five glanced around at the vacant hallways and narrowed his eyes. In one of these directions, were criminals threatening the life of an innocent person for their own personal gain. The lobby was monochromatic, a large fountain sat in the middle of the main lobby, behind an empty desk. A sphere spewed water from the fountain. Five would have admired the architecture if he wasn’t so focused on the task at hand.

 

 “Anyone know which way the main guy’s office is?” Ben asked quietly.

 

 He was met with raised shoulders and a chorus of ‘I don’t know’s. Five looked over to Luther. “Maybe we should split up and cover more ground. It would make finding the CEO and the thugs a lot easier.”

 

 “Good thinking, Five.” Luther nodded. “Um, well, let’s split up I guess.”

 

 “Inspiring leadership…” Diego murmured.

 

 Luther shot Diego a mean glare and opened his mouth to argue, but Allison cut him off. “Now is _not_ the time.”

 

 “Right. Okay, Diego, Five and Ben, go that way, Allison, Klaus and I will go his way.” Luther instructed.

 

                The group nodded and separated without argument. Five was always thankful that he didn’t need to say anything to get Diego and Luther to stop bickering. They wouldn’t listen to him anyways, so what was the point in intervening? Besides, Allison was pretty good at it. Luther, of course, would listen to anything she had to say and follow her commands – that was without the use of her powers. Five grinned as the group ran up a flight of stairs, obviously, the CEO would be at the top. That’s how it always was wasn’t it? It was kind of cliché in Five’s opinion. Five grinned at the noises he heard coming down the hallway. They had chosen the correct way. Five slowed to a stop as quietly as he could in front of a door with a plague on the wall that read CEO so and so. The name wasn’t that important to Five. He pushed himself against the wall, as did Diego and Ben.

 

 “Okay…” Five whispered. “…we shouldn’t surprise them. We don’t know the situation inside.”

 

 “Yeah, I was gonna say that.” Diego said. “Any ideas?”

 

                Five thought for a moment, “Create a distraction. We need to figure out how many of them there are. If we can distract them with something, then maybe they brainless jerks will lose their focus. Odd’s are, they are armed. So, if we kick the door…”

 

                Five almost laughed at Ben’s expression as Five moved and kicked the door, creating a resounding _bang._ The sound echoed across the empty hallways.

 

 “ _That_ was your plan!?” Ben hissed.

 

                The voices from inside got louder and soon the door was opened. Five peeked through the crack of the door in the couple of seconds he had to look in. There was a decent amount of men for such a small criminal activity.

 

 “I’m going in, you guys take care of these numbskulls.” Five grinned.  

 

                Diego muttered something about Five being stupid as Five jumped into the room behind the CEO’s desk. Diego and Ben began their fight and screams of pain were heard from the men. Five peeked over the desk to find the CEO standing, terrified as a man, presumably the leader, held the CEO by the back collar of his shirt, and held his gun to the other man’s temple. Five stood and smirked as he came up behind the man and disarmed him swiftly and gracefully. The guy didn’t even know what was coming. Five smirked as he stood on top of the desk. The man released the CEO and stumbled backwards. Five jumped down and landed a kick on the man’s head, knocking him to the ground. _Wow_ what a leader. The CEO stood in disbelief at being saved by a bunch of kids. Five jumped down from the desk and focused on the ridiculous number of men in the room. It wasn’t so difficult, they were pretty easy to fight, especially with Ben and Diego. What was their father thinking? This mission could have been completed simply without the others. Five probably could have done it all himself. Why did it have to be such a ‘teamwork’ thing? Teamwork sometimes didn’t even work.

 

                If Five worked on his own, he wouldn’t have to deal with his brother’s screaming at each other during missions, or the other’s getting distracted. Five could do it efficiently. He had the best power, after all. Out of the corner of his eye, Five saw the man he had knocked down first get up and direct the CEO out of the room, his gun digging into the man’s back. Five grinned. This was too easy. He jumped after the man and the CEO. His siblings had this. Besides, the others were slowly filtering into the room. Five chased the man out into the hallway and scowled when he could no longer find the man. The hallway was dark and unnervingly quiet, compared the room that Five had just been in not more than a few seconds ago. A gunshot suddenly rang out, Five hardly had time to jump away. He appeared on the other side of the hallway was another one rang out. Five continuously dodged the constant shots, seeing the man in front of him, shooting his gun at the twelve-year-old with the CEO standing behind him. Five tried moving forward while jumping and dodging, but the man continued to move back while shooting. _Where_ were all these bullets coming from? And guns? Five noticed the man did run out of bullets, but he quickly replaced his gun with a new one.

 

                Five knew he was beginning to over use his powers. He was jumping way too much. Five was beginning to feel sick and dizzy. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer. Five jumped once more, leaning against the wall as a wave of nausea hit him. What was he doing? This was not a smart strategy. Wait, he wasn’t being shot at anymore? Five opened his eyes in surprise as a fist collided with his cheek. Five stumbled back and glared up at the grinning man in front of him, before jumping behind him and attempting an attack from behind. The man obviously predicted this and slammed an elbow into Five’s chest. Five was so dizzy…where was this advanced fighting style when Five was fighting him earlier? Five took a step back and dodged another punch from the man. He let out a surprised breath when his back collided with something behind him. He looked up, surprised, to find the CEO smirking down at him. Five’s eyes widened in realization. This was a set up. Five ducked when the CEO attempted to grab Five. The agile boy fell to the ground and pushed himself between the CEO’s (or fake CEO) spread legs and stood up behind one of his two attackers and lifted his foot, kicking as hard as he could into the man’s back.

 

                Five wrenched his eyes shut as a wave of dizziness hit him. No, not now. He knew that he had a limit to his ability, that was his only weakness. He needed more practice. He needed to get a better grip on his power. He _needed to focus_. Five grunted when something sharp sliced through his clothes. He stumbled back and glanced down to find blood slowly staining his clothing. He looked back up to find the first attacker holding a knife.

 

 “How did you manage this?” Five questioned, trying to stall so he could get some help, his siblings would come find him eventually.

 

 The first man chuckled. “Nice try, kid. Talk later.”

 

                Five growled as the first man swiped the knife again, Five arched his back to avoid the knife and continued this pattern until he hit the back of the hallway – when did he get here? Didn’t matter. This was bad news. Five concentrated on activating his abilities. He felt his gut twisting painfully as he jumped, not more than a few feet in front of him. He was still in the bad position he had been in earlier. Five knew he should have called Diego or Ben to come with him. Their father always told them to be with someone in a chase, just in case. Of course, Five had completely ignored his father’s words, wishing now that he hadn’t. Five was completely spent. He could hardly stay on his feet. There was a sudden painful tug from his scalp as the first man grabbed Five’s hair with a vice grip. Five yelped as he was brought forward, his stomach coming into contact with a knee. The breath was knocked out of him and he crumbled to the ground, clutching his abdomen defensively. The world spun around him.

 

 “You should have played it a little smarter, _Five_.” The first man laughed and knelt next to Five. “Didn’t you know you could only do so much?”

 

                Five grunted. Adrenaline rushed in his ears and he slammed the top of his head into the man’s face, hard. Five at least had the satisfaction of giving the man a bloody nose. Five smiled, despite the situation. The man cursed and lifted his hand. The backhand stung Five’s cheek hard, but he could handle it. Unfortunately, they came one after another, turning into fists instead of backhands. Five fell to his back after the attack. A harsh kick came at his side, specifically the area that had been cut with the knife. Five had hardly noticed it until now, but it had to be deep, because it was sure as heck painful. Five gasped as the foot came again and again. Five cried out and tried to roll away. He had forgotten about the other guy in the room. Five’s arms were roughly grabbed, and he was brought to his feet, shakily standing on his wobbling feet. Five’s wrists were placed behind his back, and he felt metal cuff’s meet the skin of his wrists – ow, rude. They were too tight.

 

                Five heard a loud thudding noise at the end of the hallway and looked past his first attacker to try and see if any of his siblings had come out. Five looked around desperately. There was nothing he could do. He could no longer jump, as he had over exerted himself greatly (and idiotically). He was dizzy, and loosing blood from the deep wound in his abdomen. He was in the clutches of men who had obviously planned this for a while. They had to know that Five had a limit to his power; how? Did these men have some kind of vendetta against Five? Or perhaps, more likely, his father. But why _Five_? What did they have up their sleeves? Five made a decision. He let out the loudest, most distressed shout that he could, “ _Help!_ ”

 

                The first man growled and shoved his hand against Five’s mouth before hurriedly looking for something in his pocket. Five struggled against the hold, trying to get free, fighting as hard as he could against the growing pain in his side and the atrocious aching of his other injuries. The man grinned in victory and shoved a rag over Five’s mouth and nose. Five’s eyes burned at the loss of breath, and forced him to breathe in the soaked rag. It had a slightly sweet odor; _chloroform_. Five began to feel dizzy, his struggles became less potent. _No. He couldn’t go under._ Five felt absolutely useless. The effects of chloroform were gradually getting to him. His head felt like it was filled with cotton. Five couldn’t process anything. He couldn’t process the words that were being exchanged in front of him, or the fact that he was slowly being transferred to a shoulder, nor did he really truly process when he started moving forward, or when he saw a blurry figure of a child his age chasing after him. Why did that child look so concerned? Five was just going to sleep. He’d deal with it when he woke up. Five’s eyelids fell like a heavy curtain being closed, and with that, came darkness and an almost peaceful buzzing as his body fell into a deep trance. Somehow, he knew that when he would wake up, he would want to go straight back to the torpor he experienced now.

 

                Meanwhile, it was Diego who ran after the two retreating criminals. Diego had shouted for help as he chased them. They were fast. _Where were his knives?_ He searched as he ran, unfortunately not even getting close to catching up the criminals that had his brother. Five had been slung over the back of one of the evacuating criminals like a sack of potatoes. He was limp, and though Diego was too far from where they were, he was sure that there was a line of bruises across Five’s face. _Stupid Five!_ He had to go and try to stop the bad guys by himself, didn’t he? What was it, some power play? To show the other’s how spectacular his abilities were? Well, look at where that got him now. Diego was baffled. He never ran out of knives. He had one in hand now, but the men obviously knew their way around the building and had an escape plan. Diego roared angrily and threw his knife, aiming at the leg of one of the two men running, the one that had his brother. Of course, it hit the target. That man went tumbling down, halting the other in his tracks. Diego, frustrated, stopped in his tracks. There was a gun pointed at his unconscious brother’s head.

 

 “Take another step, and it’s bye-bye brother.” The man grinned.

 

 Diego scrambled his brain trying to think of some response, “W-Why would you be taking him i-if you are just gonna kill him?”

 

 The man grinned. “It was just a prize. I could take any of you.”

 

                _Liar_.

 

                Not that Diego knew that, sadly. Diego didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just attack them, he was too far away. His siblings were coming slowly, but obviously not fast enough. The man cocked the gun, and Diego’s eyes widened. “N-no! Don’t.”

 

 “Good, obedient. You stay there, or we’ll shoot your brother.” The man laughed and picked Five up from the ground where the other man was trying to stand, with a knife in his leg.

 

                Diego briefly, in the back of his mind, wondered how they were able to pick Five up with so little effort. The poor kid was now behind held like a purse, abdomen under the hand of the man, and left side being supported slightly by the man’s hip.

 

 “So useless, you are. Without your precious weapons. What can you really do without those knives, hm? Stand there unessentially. Pathetic.” The man grinned at Diego’s shocked expression before pressing the gun against the back of Five’s head and got moving.

 

                The other man, that Diego recognized as the ‘CEO’, glared at Diego before limping as fast as he could after the other man. Diego could only stand there. There was no way he could jeopardize Five. Diego felt awful. He was frozen in place as the men that held his brother turned the corner and were gone. Diego’s hands shook. Diego was meager. He couldn’t save his brother when it mattered most. Were they going to kill him? What was father going to say? Diego pressed his hand to his head and shook his head, panic rising up in his chest. His head flushed, suddenly very warm. What had he just done? _Nothing._ That was the problem. He just stood there stammering as Five was kidnapped.  

 

                Diego didn’t even turn to the source of the voice. He blinked back into reality. How long had he stood here, wallowing in self-pity? Long enough for those criminals to get away with Five as a trophy. Diego couldn’t just go after Five. He needed to get back to his other siblings. Diego turned and raced back to the CEO’s room. He entered the room with a look of pure dejection and fear on his face. Ben was covered in blood, as usual, Luther, Klaus and Allison must have heard the commotion and come running. Allison was currently trying to get some information out of a man that was hardly conscious, just about to use her ability when she spotted Diego enter the room.

 

 “Diego.” She said. “Where have you been?”

 

Diego was silent. His despondent demeanor brought the eyes of his siblings to him. Allison’s face appeared in front of his. _Allison_. She could have done something! She could have used her ability and then Five would be safe. But it had been Diego.

 

 “Diego,” she said again. “where is Five?”

 

 Diego was too strong for tears, yet he found them welling up in his eyes. “I-I…let them get away…”

 

 Allison scowled, Diego’s other siblings coming up beside him. “What do you _mean_ you let them get away? With what?”

 

 “They have Five.” Diego said quietly. “They were going to kill him. I-I…”

 

Luther and Ben both turned towards where Diego had just entered from. It was too late. There was nothing they could do. Diego had screwed it up. Allison’s frown was deeper then Diego had ever seen. She gripped his forearm, eyes slowly widening in realization. Allison held tight for a second before falling to her knees in front of the man she was about to interrogate.

 

 “I heard a rumor,” she said, her voice laced with the charm of her abilities. “that you wanted to tell me what you had planned here.”

 

                The severely injured man looked up weakly, eyes flashing with uncertainty. “T-the boss…got hired for this job by…this g-guy…he didn’t tell us his name…he had his f-friend c-come a-and…f-fake a robbery…he said he wanted…kids to come – something about an umbrella…he m-managed to get the information o-out…he-he is obsessed with f-fixing the past or some crap…s-so focused on s-some kid with super powers…that can jump…I…don’t…”

 

 Allison tried to keep the man awake to finish the rest of the explanation, but regrettably the man’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and his head fell back and hit the floor. Allison’s head fell into her hands.

 

 “This…this was planned?” Diego asked in disbelief.

 

 “It was a setup from the beginning.” Luther growled, his grip on the door handle to the exit of the room tightening.

 

 “Why go after Five?” Allison wondered. “And how on Earth did dad know about this?”

 

 “Diego, _why_ didn’t you go after Five?” Ben demanded, coming in front of Diego with an agitated look on his face.

 

 “Like I said, they threatened to kill him if I went after them! I couldn’t…” Diego faltered. “…Ben, you have _no idea_ how much I wanted to stop them…but…I-I…”

 

                Ben’s expression softened, yet remained distraught and he turned away and rubbed his temples, muttering incoherently. Klaus clumsily clambered to Ben’s side and tried to comfort his panicking brother. Klaus, of course, looked like he was about to have an anxiety attack. His blinking was hard, and lasted a long time, his breaths were shaky and his hands shook harder than any of theirs.

 

 “Okay…okay, calm down guys.” Luther said, “Listen, Diego. You couldn’t do anything, okay? There’s no way we could catch up to them now. Not even if we looked, if this was planned, they probably had a plan, and that includes one for a rushed exit. We’re going to find Five. We will. He’ll be alive too, but first, we need to get back to dad.”

 

 “Okay, fine…” Ben said, turning towards Luther. “…but…what do we tell dad?”

 

* * *

 

 

 

                Five woke to a pounding headache and overtaking fatigue. His eyes and nostrils burned in an odd way, his side pulsed with pain and his entire body felt enervated. Five, attempting to be as unobtrusive as he possibly could, tried to move his body. His eyes flew open, panic overwhelmed Five when he couldn’t move. He found his wrists securely restrained to the arms of a metal chair, the bonds were so tight they dug into Five’s wrists painfully. His ankles were bound to the legs of the chair and across his forehead was a strap that held his neck in place. Five was also disturbed to find his jacket and shirt missing, and many injuries he did not remember having stitched up poorly. Five heard voices and glanced up to find the two men from earlier, yes it was coming back to him. Five had been captured; pathetic of him, really. Five looked to be in a large room, it reminded him of a warehouse, yet smaller and cleaner. The walls were a blinding white, and the floors a light shade of grey.

 

                Behind Five, he heard the crackling of what sounded like electricity. Sadly, he couldn’t turn his neck to see whatever was causing the noise. The small space was filled with advanced technology, it almost reminded Five of the basement at his own home, except this space was brighter. Five grimaced when he spotted a puddle of blood at his feet. Blood trickled down his leg, unaccompanied with the socks and shoes he usually wore, and dripped into the small pool of crimson blood. What happened to him while he slept?

 

 “Why didn’t you see this coming?” A voice interrupted Five’s thoughts. “You should have prepared for the worst.”

 

 “Getting stabbed in the leg with a knife by a twelve-year-old brat was not part of my predictions!” Another voice snapped back at the first one.

 

Five’s eyes followed the sound of the voices and found the sources. The men from earlier, the ones that had kidnapped him; probably the two that had coordinated the whole thing. Five bit his tongue, just in case any sound or noise came from him. The longer he could postpone the inevitable, the better. Still, he should try to get out. Five attempted to use his ability, maybe he had gotten enough rest to recharge himself. He felt a familiar tug in his gut. Things were looking up, maybe he could get out of here after-all. As Five grasped his abilities, a sudden excruciating pain raged through his body. Five howled in pain and surprise, drawing the attention of his captors to him. It soon subsided, leaving Five grasping for breath. A chuckle came from one of the men, Five couldn’t tell who, he was focused on his breathing, and his eyes were closed tight.

 

 “Ah, so you’re finally awake.”

 

                Could that have been more cliché? Five had heard better, more villainous phrases from cheap, unskilled thugs. It was almost funny to hear it come from such a calculated criminal. Five forced a grin and opened his eyes, looking up at the men who approached him murderously.

 

 “Seeing as my plan succeeded, I suppose I can start my monologue.” Said the man that wasn’t the ‘CEO’. “I am Kirk, and this is Simon. And I want you to go back and time.”

 

Five stared up at Kirk with disbelief. “Excuse me?”

                Kirk leaned in and placed his hands on either side of the chair’s arms, or more accurately, Five’s forearms. “You heard me, brat.”

 

 “Why would you think I could do something like that?”

 

                Five had obviously thought of that idea before. He just never gone to his father about it. It was plausible, obviously. But the matter was so untouched, Five definitely couldn’t do it at this current point in time. He had no idea how, and definitely not for these crooks.

 

 “I’ve observed you, and your abilities. If someone had told me thirteen years ago that there would be a bunch of kids with superpowers like those old comics, I would have laughed in their faces, but here we are. You have the potential to do great things, Five. And you can definitely preform time travel.”

 

 “And why would I do something like that for an imbecile like you?” Five hissed.

 

                His head would have snapped to the side, if not for the strap across his forehead, forbidding him from moving much. His abused cheek stung from the impact of the hand that had just slapped him.

 

 “Watch your mouth, kid.” Kirk straightened up and looked over at Simon. “Let’s give this machine another go, shall we?”

 

                Before Five could ask any more questions, the pain that had been there earlier rushed through his body again. Five’s back arched, and he thrashed to get away from the pain. A blood curdling scream was ripped roughly from his throat. Five’s hands clenched and unclenched as much as they could, fingers stretching and trembling in a way of relieving the utter anguish Five was experiencing now. Tears fell down Five’s bruised cheeks. The boy was unable to stop them, it wasn’t worth it to try. He couldn’t think. His vision became fuzzy, and his headache and nausea increased tenfold. As soon as it started, it was over. Five was left gulping down air and moaning in pain. His breaths came out as wheezes, he couldn’t think.

 

 “You have no idea how much I invested into this.” Kirk said, dark eyes resting on Five’s broken body. “You’re going to help me. I will mold you if I have to. You’re going to be like a pet, go and fetch things for me. Do things for me.”

 

 “Heh…” Five licked his lips, trying to regain composure. “You really are an idiot, aren’t you? I _can’t_ time travel, and comparing me to a pet is really not a great way to get me to do something.”

 

 “Maybe not. But I’ll get you to do what I want. It’ll be handy to have a kid like you working for me. No wonder that churlish ‘father’ of yours get’s whatever he wants.” Kirk muttered. “Though, you really are pathetic without your abilities. That’s all I need for you. I’ll put you in so much pain that you will beg for death, and of course I’ll give it to you once you go back in time and return.”

 

Five raised an eyebrow, “What did you screw up that you need me to go back for you?”

 

                Fury flashed in Kirk’s eyes, and he shared a glance with Simon and smirked. Kirk abruptly dug two of his fingers into Five’s deepest wound on his chest, and dug around. Five’s voice was caught in his throat. The pain was unbearable. Five gasped in a breath and cried out fingers holding onto the arms of the chairs so hard his knuckles turned white. Kirk, after what seemed like forever, removed his blood-soaked fingers and stood. He patted Five’s cheek again before signaling to Simon to start up the machine again.

 

 “You’d better adapt fast, brat.”  


* * *

 

 

                Despite the wise words of their mother to get sleep and rest, the Hargreeves siblings were all up at awful hours, each and every one of them feeling like a complete failure. Diego felt pathetic, he was _there_ he saw Five leave. He should have gone after the criminals who had his brother. Klaus felt unbelievably upset. Five was a stubborn _butthead_ most of the time, with a huge ego problem, but Klaus still loved him a lot. There was something about his brother that was just charming. And Klaus hated the fact that it had been twelve hours since Five had been kidnapped; no one knew what was happening to Five. Klaus, had some solace, in knowing that Five was probably not dead. He could always tell, somehow. Klaus was on the verge of a panic attack, but he did all he could to stop it. He had to be strong, for Five. He couldn’t be having a panic attack if their father called them for a mission concerning Five.

 

                Ben was feeling equally as bad. Five and Ben had a close relationship. The two of them enjoyed conversations late at night, when they weren’t supposed to be up. Five, though comfortable around all of his siblings, felt most calm around Ben. He had, in fact, told Ben that himself. A night of weakness. Five had over used his abilities and went to Ben for a sit down, to complain about the old man a little. Ben couldn’t stand Five being gone this long. Those men were hostile. It terrified him. What if they didn’t find him in time? He knew that he should trust his father and that man’s keen eye for detail and figuring things out, but he was a little hysterical. Allison felt upset. Nothing like this had happened before, they worked great as a team. Five always had a bit of a rebellious streak, they all had actually, and he also had the tendency to run off and do things on his own. Maybe after they found him, he would stop doing that as much…if they found him. Luther was beating himself up a lot. He was one, he had always perceived himself as a leader. He should have been there to stop all of that from happening. Five wouldn’t be in his predicament if Luther had been there to help him.

 

                And Vanya? No one could really tell how she felt. No one could relate, no one in that house. Vanya felt horrible. In all of her heart, she wished that she could have done something to prevent it. She got worried about each and every one of her siblings every time they went out on a mission. She was always relieved when they returned. But this time? Her siblings returned without Five. Five had been one of the only people that looked out for her. No, her siblings didn’t have a major disdain for her. But they treated her differently. Five was kind to her, he sat and listened to her play violin. When he first started doing it, she found it a little uncomfortable, but she soon got used to his presence and welcomed it. She loved seeing the look on his face as she played. He just was so relaxed when she played. It made her happy to know that her music was affecting someone in a positive way, other then herself. But now Five was missing. _Kidnapped_. She didn’t know which one was worse. Five could be dead, he could be mortally wounded, and Vanya was completely helpless to stop it. Once Sir Reginald had a lead on Five, he would dispatch the others to go and save him. But she would be stuck at home, waiting in anticipation. She would have no idea if Five made it out alive, or what would happen. She wouldn’t know if any of her other siblings would be killed in the process. Every day brought so much anxiety and stress to Vanya, most of the time she didn’t know how to deal with it.

 

                When Vanya had gotten the news that Five had been kidnapped, she had cried for hours. Even now, her nose was red and raw from rubbing it, her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and her face was flushed and probably looked like a mess. Vanya could care less. The fact was, Vanya was idle. To everything. And she couldn’t wrap her head around that completely. Why would she be kept around if she didn’t have any significant abilities other then playing the violin? Vanya couldn’t sleep. She was thinking of what could be happening to Five. She sat on her bed, legs brought up to her chest. Her chin rested on her knees and she stared at her bedroom wall. She vigorously rubbed her cheek when a rogue tear escaped her eye. No. She had to be strong. For Five. He wouldn’t cry if it were any of them that got kidnapped. He was strong, and even if he felt a great deal of pain, he would still persevere until the task was complete. She could do it, she could be like Five and have courage until he was found.

 

                Meanwhile, Reginald was trying to track down leads. Pogo and Grace assisted him as he went through files and papers. Reginald had done research into, the possible faults of the company that had been fake threatened today. Reginald always did research into potential public dangers to send the children out. And he always did go with them, watching from a building far away, or the street. Reginald’s intuition was hardly ever wrong. The investigating he had done concluded the company he had sent the children too would be threatened and the CEO would be in imminent danger. How could Reginald have missed such an important detail as the CEO being in on it? Simon Douglas. It was the only potential lead that Reginald had. He could not afford to lose Five to anyone. And besides that, Reginald could not afford to lose Five period. It would take a while, getting the information that Reginald needed. He had spent the last couple of hours looking into Simon Douglas. Family members, company history, etcetera. It was nearing seven in the morning when Pogo finally came to him with some information. Reginald blinked, surprised when he heard Pogo calling him. Grace was no where in sight, she must have gone to take care of the children. Reginald had lost track of time.

 

 “Sir Reginald, I may have something.” Pogo said. “Simon Douglas has a brother, Kirk Douglas. His description matches what Dieg - Number Two had told us. They had a sister, but due to an unfortunate accident, they lost her—”

 

 “Irrelevant. I could care less about the family drama and history. Find out where this Kirk Douglas takes up residence. Perhaps we can move on from there.”

 

                Concurrently, Grace was trying to get the children to eat; unsuccessfully. It wasn’t just Vanya now, it was all of them. Grace was saddened to see such looks of dismay on their faces. Diego stared down at his food, appetite completely lacking. Yes, the food looked wonderful, it always did when Grace made it, but the sight of it was just revolting now. Diego couldn’t concentrate on eating, not while he was confronted with failure. Number Two looked over to examine the faces of the rest of his siblings. Each of them seemed to be having very similar thoughts. Klaus had his elbow on the table, and he rested the side of his face on his hand, while the other tapped the top of the table. Klaus always fidgeted when he was upset. Allison and Luther appeared to be sharing glances at each other, it was like they communicated telepathically; did they have another shared ability that Diego didn’t know about?

 

 “Children, you must eat to be strong and healthy!” Grace urged, smiling at each of the kids individually.

 

 “I can’t eat, mom.” Klaus muttered, eyes remaining on the plate of untouched food. “Even if I wanted to, I ate to much yesterday. I don’t feel good.”

 

 “Where’s father?” Vanya piped up, big eyes following Grace’s movements.

 

 “Your father looking for Five, of course dear.” Grace swiftly moved next to Vanya, brushing a loose strand of hair out of Vanya’s face.

 

                Vanya seemed to have known what Grace was going to say. It was like she needed conformation that Reginald was, in fact, searching for her missing brother. If Reginald was missing breakfast to look for Five, Vanya was certain that he would be found. Reginald was able to get anything, because he put so much effort into everything that he did. He never stopped until there were satisfactory results.

 

 “Now, now, don’t worry children.” Grace said, breaking the silence that buzzed in the room uncomfortably. “I can see you are all worried about Five. Don’t be distressed, he will be back before you know it.”

 

Would he? Ben was having a hard time seeing how this would resolve itself in a good way. No matter what happened, if Five was found, all of them would be paying the consequences for their screw up. They would be stuck with the guilt of letting a sibling be kidnapped. The burden would be heavy. What if Five was found dead? Hurt? Either of those were very probable. It terrified Ben to know that he may never see Five again. Ben hated siting around in apprehension, he wanted to be out there looking for Five himself. He knew that Reginald probably already had a good idea where Five was, Ben had no idea how the man managed things like that, but it still felt like pure torment for them to have to sit here and be expected to act normally in the absence of their brother.

 

No. Ben was not being smart. If – no, _when_ Reginald found out where Five was and sent them to retrieve him, they would need their strength. Grace was right about that. There was no way that they could rescue Five exceptionally, especially not knowing the risks, without a belly full of food. They needed the energy and protein. Ben swallowed and straightened up in his chair. He reached for his fork and cut into his eggs, and then shoved a bite into his mouth. No, he really didn’t feel like eating, but it was for the best. _Do it for Five_. The other’s watched him, somewhat taken aback as Ben dug into his food. Grace was beaming down at him, proud.

 

 “Guys, you need to eat.” Ben said quietly after swallowing a couple of bites worth of food. “You need to, or you won’t be strong enough to fight anyone.”

 

                Klaus frowned and watched Ben with interest. There was determination in those eyes, Klaus was intrigued. Ben was so mild most of the time, yet the way he ate his food now was aggressive. Klaus would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. Klaus looked down to his own food. He would contradict himself if he ate now. But then again, he never cared much about what the other’s thought of him. Ben was right. Klaus joined his brother in eating his food, further confusing the three at the other side of the table. Klaus, unbelievably, still had an appetite, even after what had conspired. The remaining four children were a little baffled. None of them had even considered eating the food for energy. Obviously, they knew that was what the food did, but they just didn’t think of it through their foggy minds. Luther felt a little embarrassed as he gingerly took a bite of his food. His body wanted to repel the food, it didn’t taste great to Luther right now, as his stomach was fighting against his nerves, but he ate it anyways. Grace was happy to see Allison and Diego begin to consume their breakfast as well. Ben appeared to be very good and convincing his siblings to do things without much words. You would think it would be Allison, with her ability, but Ben had a trusting atmosphere. He was shy and generally quiet, but he was smart. The others did listen to him when it mattered most. What would any of them do without Ben?

 

                It was noon when Reginald called the children. He revealed to them a location, goodness knows how he and Pogo were able to gather the information so fast. Reginald went with the children, as usual, deciding to leave Vanya with Grace and Pogo at the manor, much to Vanya’s chagrin. The Hargreeves were instructed to be as stealthy as they could possibly manage as they neared the location. On the boarder of the city, in a large building covered in windows and vacant due to the fact it was still the weekend, was the place the Hargreeves ended up. The building loomed over them ominously as they discussed vantage entrance points. Reginald elucidated the plan to the children. They were all eager to get their brother back, no matter what the cost. The building was used for technology testing, a way to make the future a more advanced place. From when they entered, the children had observed that it also appeared to be lab, due to the equipment scattered here and there. The lights were off as the siblings split ways, remaining with a partner they had been assigned to.

 

                Snooping around empty workplaces was really getting old. How did they even get in? Didn’t matter. Reginald always had it figured out. For once, Diego was grateful for his father’s tenacity. He always got something done. The siblings, of course in their respective groups, headed down through the building, taking the stairs to get as low as they could. Any villain or criminal would never do their dirty work on the top, open floors. Basements were always the way to go. The hunch was correct. They heard voices coming from a dark hallway leading to a set of double doors. There was a lock on the door, probably locked from the inside, but that was no bit deal to Luther. He and his siblings, who had split up, had come to the same place. They counted to three and then Luther rammed into the doors full force, knocking them off the hinges and startling the two men in the room. They didn’t have much time to take in the room. Horrifying. Blood splattered the walls and floors around a chair with a figure sitting in it. The smell of blood was overpowering, it’s coppery scent nauseating. And Five. Ben rushed over to Five as Diego and Luther focused on the two men that were in the room and were also pulling out weapons.

 

                Five. Oh gosh. The poor boy’s eyes seemed empty, his mouth hung slightly ajar, blood and bile soaked his shorts, his skin was a painting of mass contusions and lacerations. Five’s sparkling eyes seemed tired; they were bloodshot, red and puffy. For only a day being gone, they had done a number on him. Ben rushed to the chair, ignoring how his feet splashed in a puddle of blood as he undid the restraints.

 

 “Five?” He asked, hand cupping Five’s cheek protectively. “Hey, talk to me…”

               

 

Five’s expression flared. He freaked out. Five pulled off the wires attached to his body and in some crazy boost of adrenaline, stood from his chair and jumped away from Ben. Ben panicked, as did Klaus. He heard a cry of agony, not from Five or any of his other siblings, but from one of the two men. Ben turned so fast he thought he might get whiplash. Five had jumped onto the back of one of the men, fingers gripping a scalpel as he slit the man’s throat. Blood soaked Five’s already blood covered hands, as he jumped off that man’s back as he fell to the floor.

 

 “S-Simon!”

 

                Five was on him next. Ben was astounded. Diego and Luther were frozen as they watched Five brutally murder the other man. Five released a strangled cry as he watched the life leave Kirk Douglas. Five sat on Kirk’s chest, hand shaking as it gripped the scalpel. Realization flashed in Five’s eyes and he stared at the mutilated body of his tormenter. Five scrambled off the man’s torso. Pain flared up in Five’s body and he crumbled. Ben was there first, he peeled Five from the floor and held him in his arms. Ben felt tears well in his eyes as he listened to the cries of his beloved sibling. What did they do to him? Five’s breath hitched and he grasped the back of Ben’s jacket. The fabric curled under Five’s bloodied hands, staining the pristine jacket red. Ben ran a shaky hand through Five’s hair and looked at the carnage. How was this supposed to be cleaned up? Klaus, standing above his two siblings on the floor, had his eyes wide in horror. What on earth had just happened? It was so fast. Klaus hadn’t even done anything, none of them had really. Klaus looked around, his face pale and aghast as he took in the sight of the room. He felt bile rise in his throat, which he swallowed uncomfortably. This was something out of a nightmare. Klaus reluctantly looked back at Five and gulped. Five looked like a bloodied mess. Well, he _was_ one. Klaus fell to his knees next to Ben, licking his dry lips and brought a trembling hand to rest on Five’s bare shoulder. He looked into Ben’s eyes desperately, anxiety and panic welling up inside of him, creating a bomb of anxiety that was likely to go off and trigger a panic attack once the severity of the situation died down.

 

                Five was obviously not in his right mind. The boy was shivering awfully, muttering incoherently and returning Ben’s embrace tightly. It was out of character for him, and it bothered all of them greatly. Now wasn’t the time to feel guilty, though. Now was the time to get Five out of here. They didn’t ever have to worry about cleaning up the messes they made, or in this case the mess that Five made, but it still unnerved them to leave the place looking like a haunted house. Would the police come after Five? It had never been a problem in the past when deaths occurred. Still, every possible thing that could go wrong began to list themselves in the sibling’s heads as Luther tentatively lifted Five into his arms, hoping that Five wouldn’t have a freak out session on him. Five wasn’t heavy, not to Luther anyways. Nothing was heavy to Luther. Though, he briefly wondered if Five got enough to eat on a daily basis. Getting Five out of here was first priority.

 

                The rest was a blur to all of them. Getting back felt like it took eons. Waiting for Five to be fixed up felt longer. Vanya had burst into tears when she had accidentally seen Five. None of them wished for her to see that. As they sat in the lounge, though, none of them said anything. Not to comfort Vanya, who was a sobbing mess, not to comfort each other, or to encourage. They were just silent, save for Vanya’s loud weeping. This would not be easy, not for any of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! So there it is :) The next few chapters are gonna be a bit angsty, but don't fret! It'll lead to some fluff :) If you have suggestions for anything you want, leave 'em in the comment section! I may add them! ALSO if I could request...someone write me a Five whump fanfiction or like a sickfic, because I am in fact sick and I need something to read! Thanks guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the chapter guys! There's a short lil' scene at the end for Klaus ;)

Five scratched his head, mumbling to himself as he wrote in a notebook. He had filled countless pages with possible equations, theories and other ideas that could lead to time travel. How could he do it? Reginald would know. But it was bringing it up to the old man that was the biggest problem. Five didn’t want to look at him. What had happened went beyond the line. Five was traumatized by that. It was difficult for him to even admit that to himself. Five was so embarrassed. He hadn’t left his room, not for a day. Sure, he had gone out for small things like water and the bathroom, but otherwise he remained in complete solitude, trying to fight off the memories and crushing anxiety on his own. Grace had tried getting him out, but he had refused. By some miracle, Five had detached Klaus from his hand and kicked him out of his room. Five had spent the night awake completely, curled up on his bed and telling himself it would be okay. It was now around noon, Five’s head and shoulders felt hot and he had an exasperated feeling. Five closed his eyes. They felt so tired and heavy. Five huffed lifting his hand to rub his temple. His eyes remained closed, the light coming into the room from the window was too bright for Five’s tired eyes. 

Hesitantly, Five re-opened his eyes and violently jerked back, breath hitching as he found himself back in the place he had experienced so much pain. The place that he realized how utterly pathetic he was. How could he have gotten himself kidnapped by two moronic thugs, bent on unrealistically changing the past due to their own mistakes. But was Five like that as well? He wished he could go back and stop what had happened. What would that have accomplished? He would still be an emotional mess. Five shook his head. No, no, no. He could not revisit this. Why was he back? He couldn’t move. His entire body was restrained. His abilities were useless. He was in so much pain. A strangled cry clawed itself up Five’s throat and out of his mouth as a sharp pain jerked through his body. Five gasped in air, trying unsuccessfully to breathe properly. He was such a disappointment. To himself. To his father. To his siblings. Five closed his eyes as tight as he could and felt some kind of release. He could move again. 

Five opened his eyes. He found himself back in his room. He wasn’t in that lab anymore. He wasn’t being tortured anymore. Five fell on his side and curled up in a ball in the middle of his floor. Five bit his cheek, whimpering as he tried to keep the tears at bay. It was no use. A tear slipped out of Five’s eye, that led to a waterfall. A loud sob broke the silence of Five’s room. 

“T-this…isn’t fair…” Five cried, furiously rubbing at his cheeks. “…this…is…not…fair!” 

Five grasped his chest and held tight to the fabric.

“I…can’t…breathe…”

Five attempted the four, seven, eight breathing exercise, but he could not fixate his attention on it. Instead his breathing became erratic and quick. Five inhaled continuously, breath sounding like wheezes. Five wailed, unable to control his volume anymore. In the back of his mind, he hoped that his siblings were busy doing something. Five would never be able to control himself around them. He couldn’t show more weakness then he already had. Five writhed. He was alone. Why did they all put up with him? Such an ego. Five was so rude, he was so useless. All that talk for nothing. He couldn’t even get himself out of such a dire situation. It was a blow to his pride, something that was outstanding in his personality. Five sealed his eyes closed, his face wet from the overflowing tears. Five’s vision was blurry when he opened his eyes again. Five felt so desolate. He didn’t react when he saw feet in front of him, and then the concerned face of his sister, Vanya. Five’s hands shook awfully, and a shudder ran through Five’s entire body. A cold hand rested on his damp cheek. 

“…Five.” 

Her voice was oddly calm for such a horrid case. Five wanted to push her away, but he couldn’t. He was too weak, and some of him wanted her to stay. She was quiet for a moment before lying down next to him and placed her hand on Five’s. She wrapped her small fingers around his trembling ones and stared into his tear-filled eyes. Vanya silently searched Five’s face, expression placid. Five was reminded of something. He was not alone. Here was Vanya to prove that. She cared for him. He knew that. Five closed his eyes, instead of tightening them, he let his eyelids gently slide over his glassy eyes. Five held his breath for a moment before gently exhaling. He practiced the technique that both Klaus and Pogo had taught him before. Five rubbed his cheeks with the sleeve of his jacket and opened his eyes once more to meet Vanya’s large ones. A smile tugged at the sides of her lips. 

“Vanya…” Five inhaled deeply. “…w-would…would you mind playing a song?”

Vanya nodded and sat up. She rubbed Five’s hand before leaving. Five felt the walls of his mind crumbling, anxiety whispering into his ear. What if she decided not to return? She did. Vanya returned and quietly shut the door before placing her violin under her chin and began a song. It was her practice time anyways. Five pulled himself off the floor and leaned against the side of his bed. He sighed and listened to Vanya’s music. He found it so relaxing and serene. He watched his sister play the violin with grace, fingers plucking the strings to the lovely song. Maybe recovering wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

Meanwhile, Reginald was sitting at his desk, scribbling in his journal. His research was rather disconcerting. He supposed that he should have listened to Pogo when he had tried to explain the situation when Reginald was searching for Five. Kirk and Simon Douglas had been planning their escapade for quite some time. Reginald was astounded with himself for not noticing it sooner. Each of his children had been surveyed, and Five had been marked as the target. Reginald wished that he could contact both of the deceased men to figure out how the had come to the conclusion that Five could travel in time. Reginald had thought of talking to Number Four and getting him to conjure them, but he had decided against it. Number Four had been quite displeasing to Reginald. His dislike for the dead was increasingly irritating. Reginald had wished to break that distaste when he put Four in the mausoleum, but it was a failure. Though he didn’t seem to be quite as afraid, he was still alarmed when it came to that subject. Reginald concluded he would not get far forcing Klaus to summon the dead men, especially the men he had seen torture his brother. Reginald was irked with a few of the children. He had tried to almost purposefully create blocks between some of the children, the only two it had worked with was Number One and Two. Specifically, Ben, Klaus and Five had an intense rebellious streak. Each of them cared for their siblings greatly, it was a large flaw that Reginald was peeved by. Reginald though he could use it as an advantage against them during certain training exercises, he had yet to try it yet. Reginald decided with this whole experience, he would amp up security. 

“Sir Reginald.” 

Reginald glanced up from his writing, Pogo stood in the doorway, arms behind his back and waiting for Reginald to start. Hargreeves had summoned him. 

“I am discommoded.” Reginald began. “Number Five is a difficult subject, currently. He appears to have become more rebellious, due to his previous predicament. The boy is skipping meals, counting calories and he has been up late hours practicing.” 

“Is this a problem for you?” Pogo questioned. “I thought that you wanted him to focus on his skills.” 

“If he was not so contumacious, I would have no issue.” Reginald stated dryly. “It has come to my attention his antecedent captors wished for him to time travel. Number Five has shown obsession. It is my observation that his pride was damaged after his capture, and he wishes to restore it by discovering a treasure within his abilities. But he cannot.”

“He cannot time travel, sir?” 

“Not now,” clarified Reginald. “his body is no where near ready for it, nor his mind. I foresee him adhering to his obsession. He will become more obstinate as time passes. It will only become an inconvenience for me. No doubt, he will approach me with this. Of course, I know what to tell him. I am more irritated with his eating habits.” 

“Sir?” 

“I cannot have Number Five developing an eating disorder. His obsession with an ideal body is ridiculous.” Reginald huffed. “He is disappointed in himself. But it will be no good. Number Four is already unstable, I cannot have two that way.” 

“If I may, Sir.” Pogo began. “Number Five has experienced intense trauma. I am not condoning his eating or sleeping habits, but perhaps he should talk to someone.” 

“No.”

Pogo sighed. For a man so intelligent, he was absolutely missing what needed to be done in this situation. The drawbacks for Five’s future could be unsettling. Five had been taking things out on himself, Pogo was aware. He was sad that he did not know what to do to help. He had noticed Five’s sudden distaste for food. The way he stared in disgust at it. Five was a smart boy. He ate the perfect amount so as not to starve himself, but at the same time managed to eat little enough that it was affecting his weight. What was he thinking? The sleep habits, Pogo assumed, were due to night terrors. Unavoidable almost. Perhaps it all led back to the sleep. Five was not functioning properly due to the lack of sleep he was getting. He was making unwise decisions for his health and obsessing over this ‘time travel’ thing. It was no secrete that Five held fantastic talent, he was progressing faster than his siblings, and since Vanya was suppressed, he took rank as probably one of the most powerful of the Hargreeves. His power was incredibly fascinating, yet it’s limits were so untouched. 

“Did you call me in here for any specific reason? Other than to…chat?” Pogo was ready to get straight to the point. 

Reginald sneered and placed his hand on his chin. “The machine.”

“I hope you have destroyed it.” 

“No,” said Reginald. “it could serve useful.”

“To Five?” Pogo inquired. “I thought we had discussed this.”

“I wish to make improvements on it.” Reginal explained. “If I can modify it, perhaps it could be a beacon to help the other children with the progression of their own abilities.” 

“Surely you do not mean by inflicting pain.”

“Not in the way that the device is currently set up.” Reginald said. “Number Four has great untouched talent. He is so locked up in his own selfish ideals that he refuses to attempt to be greater. If modified, I could create a device that would initiate Number Four’s fight or flight response, after all, the boy seems to work far greater in dangerous or painful situations. I will just need to figure out what kinds of certain situations. He must tap into his own abilities and enhance them. Now, tell me your opinion.” 

Pogo supposed that Reginald was correct. In the past, he had never been able to successfully stop Reginald from his training. By just halting his experiment with Five, Pogo had taken great pride. There was no way that he could convince Reginald to stop pursuing the endeavor. Pogo knew that some day, the Hargreeves children would rebel. The way they are being treated was only one indicator. Pogo wished that Reginald would realize that. “I believe it can be done, Sir Reginald, with some time, of course.” 

“Good. I need to test some aspects before I begin modifications. Get Number Four.” 

Dinnertime was a quiet affair. It usually was, but unlike breakfast, conversation was not verboten. Any small exchanges were reticent. Five felt emotionally drained. He couldn’t expose himself again. It was already causing a fervid humiliation to Five. Five planned on confronting his father after supper to ask him about time travel. He just needed to build up the nerve. Talking to Reginald was going to be very galling. Five picked at his food with his fork, appetite not very strong. 

“Number Five.” 

Five’s eyes flickered towards the head of the table, where Sir Reginald sat. The man was not even looking at Five, demeanor aloof and distant. Five licked his lips, heart thumping in his ears as he waited for Reginald to speak. This was the first time that Reginald had spoken to him since that ‘experiment’. 

“Your food is not a toy.” He said. “Eat.” 

Five brought his eyes back to his food. He felt his face flush slightly when he felt the attention of his siblings on him. So Reginald had noticed. Five was trying to perfect himself, and if that included decreasing his food intake, so be it. The fact was, when he practiced his spatial jumps for too long, often times he threw up. It was awful, especially after eating a hearty dinner. He threw up so much that his look towards food just became sour. Besides that, if he were to be able to increase his muscle by working out it would help greatly. Obviously, he was being smart about it. He had to be. Five was conscious of Grace coming up behind him and squeezing in between Five and Diego and kneeling down. She smiled at Five, silently urging him to eat his food. He pursed his lips, eyebrows furrowing. He locked eyes with Grace’s eyes. He knew she was a robot, he did. But she looked so incredibly human. She was truly a fantastic creation, Five admired his father for this spectacular piece of work. Five tried to silently tell her how much he did not want to eat. Grace shook her head, smile still intact. She placed her hand gently on Five’s and guided his hand that held his fork. Five was infuriated. He was being treated like a child. Five watched her face with disbelief, Grace kept her eyes locked with Five’s. Five couldn’t eat food from her. No way, not in a million years. Not even when he was young would he allow someone to feed him. He was always advanced, he ate by himself. If he did it now, it would mean he would have to swallow his pride; he couldn’t do that. Five wasn’t naïve. He knew he was prideful, it was one of his biggest weakness’. 

Five looked across the table to Ben, eyes pleading for some kind of help. It was useless, what was Ben going to do anyways? Five looked back and forth between Ben and Vanya, but both of them shook their heads. Ben shrugged, biting his lip and made an expression that told Five he wanted him to eat as well. Five rolled his eyes and looked toward Vanya, who shared the same expression. Five almost groaned aloud. Useless. They couldn’t do anything. Five glanced at Klaus and shook his head; Klaus seemed to be in a world of his own, staring off into space, he hadn’t even touched his food yet. 

“Five,” said Grace quietly. “you must eat.” 

Five shook her hand off of his and took a miniscule bit of food. Really, it was hardly any. Grace wasn’t satisfied but pleased Five was indulging her. Grace was touching him again, hand carding through his hair. She urged him to go on. Five didn’t eat much. He would have been much happier skipping dinner altogether. He could keep a healthy food schedule for himself. Not too high in calories, but enough to fill him up if he overused his abilities and ended up throwing up. He just didn’t feel like it. Maybe eating properly would hinder him in some way? He knew it was ridiculous. He knew. But he could not get it out of his head. Five thought maybe if he focused on these small things, like eating and counting his calories so he didn’t over eat would help. It would, wouldn’t it? If he used his abilities too much and ended up loosing his lunch, he wouldn’t have to worry about throwing up too much. 

In the end, Five only ate half of his meal. He placed down the fork and indignantly placed his hands on his lap, silently declaring to Grace that he was done. Five didn’t miss it when his father looked up and inconspicuously peered at Five’s plate. He scowled in disapproval. Five rolled his eyes rebelliously and waited for his father to release them from the dinner table. 

“You are excused.” Reginald said. “Practice math from the textbooks I assigned you until six.”

Some of Five’s siblings grumbled as they stood and left to their respective rooms. Five slowly stood and watched as Grace cleared the plates from the table. Reginald had already started leaving the dining room. Five chewed the side of his cheek and gained composure before striding quickly after his father. 

“Um, dad?” He called, voice quiet and unsure. 

Reginald turned, eyebrow raised. He looked down at Five, and suddenly the boy felt ten times smaller. His father loomed over him, and Five’s mouth felt incredibly dry. Why was this so hard? 

“I wanted to discuss something with you.” Five continued. “Perhaps…I can…postpone my studies until after?”

Reginald considered this. The small part of him with a conscience felt bad for Five. Even though his experiments may be unconventional, Five didn’t deserve physical and mental torture. And Reginald had even made Five’s mental recovery worse. He would never apologize, or even admit to being compassionate. But he would listen to the boy, Five obviously had something important to say. And he already knew what it was. 

“Very well. You will have to take time to finish your studies after.” Reginald said, and turned his back to the boy, beginning to walk towards the lounge. 

Five followed, tugging on the bottom of his jacket tensely. Reginald gestured for Five to sit on one of the couches, while the man stood, hands behind his back as he waited for Five to sit and begin. Five rubbed his lips together and opened his mouth. Nothing came out at first. Five had thought about this confrontation all day, practiced what he was going to say, yet now that he was actually doing it his mind was blank. 

“When…” Five spoke dryly and cleared his throat. “…When I was, um, kidnapped, well…”

Reginald suppressed a sigh. “Please be concise.”

“They wanted me to travel back in time for them.” Five said. “And…well, obviously I said no. Even if I knew I could do it, I would still say no. But…what I’m here to ask is…well, is it possible?” 

“Yes.” Reginald said shortly. 

Five laughed out a surprised breath. He had the power to travel in time? That was impressive, and it boosted Five’s confidence a little.

“But you are no where near ready.” 

There it was. The impending cruelness of the man. Brutally honest. Five respected the candor, but still. Couldn’t he have said it a little…nicer? “What…do you mean?” 

“You are immature, Number Five. Your abilities are not completely developed. When you over exert yourself with your abilities, you fall ill and become ineffective and completely useless. That is what caused you to fall to the hands of your captors in the first place. To try time-travel now would be completely asinine. You would not be able to handle the potential effects.”

“So, what, get more of a stomach for my powers?” Five inquired, tone high with tension. “Do I need to practice more?” 

“No. That will only enervate you. I am telling you that it is not possible at this moment in time.” Reginald explained nonchalantly. “Within reasonable limits, you may begin to look into it. But you must be sensible about it.”

“What do I have to do? I will do it.” 

“Answer me this.” Reginald stopped in front of where Five sat. “Do you know how to time travel?”

Five scowled and lowered his gaze. He remained quiet.

“I asked you a question, Number Five. I expect an answer.”

“No.” Five responded curtly. “…no. I don’t sir.” 

“Then how do you expect to time travel?” Reginald asked. “Do not be childish about this, Number Five. You are incapable of time travel right now. Do you understand?”

Five was fueled with anger. This was not fair. Not ready? Five was bubbling over with talent and power. He was sure of his abilities. No, he did not know how to time travel, but he was certain that he could figure it out. 

“I will bring this back up when I believe you are ready. I am no longer going to converse with you about this subject.” Reginald stated. 

Five grunted and rubbed his forehead. What a waste of time. Obviously, he couldn’t attempt it now. His father was probably right. He did over exert himself, and time travel would probably take a lot of energy. So, he needed to work as hard as he could. 

“Number Five, I have another subject I wish to discuss with you.” Five looked up at his father, confusion striking his expression. “I am not satisfied with your attempts to make yourself feel better. Eating properly is a necessity to your health, and helpful for improving your abilities. You will become idle to me if you continue on this path. Your health will be strained, and you shall only end up hurting yourself. I expect complete obedience from you. Rebellion will not be permitted. Do you comprehend?” 

“Yes sir.” Five answered, voice only slightly above a whisper. 

“Now, go and finish your studies. And when you are finished, I insist you sleep.” 

And then Reginald left without another word. Five sat there for a moment, silently seething. He breathed in and held it for a moment, glaring at the table in the middle of the room. Five puffed out the air and stood from the couch. He wavered a little, dizzy still from lack of sleep and food, most likely. Five had told himself he would get used to it, but from what his father had just said, he would not have to. Predictably, Grace would be on him about finishing his meals and getting to bed early. Five straightened himself and made his way upstairs to his room, his footsteps echoing in the familiar silence of the house. Five paused in the doorway of his room and grit his teeth before entering and shutting the door loudly. Five eased through his math very fast, it was simple, really. His father had given him more advanced subjects akin to his more advanced mind. Five sat on his bed, dressed in his sleepwear. He hadn’t left his room, as per his father’s request – or more like demand – for him to go to bed after he finished his studies. Of course, he finished those a couple of hours ago. It was eleven forty in the night, Five had just stayed up in the dim light of his lamp, writing in his notebook. Five glanced up irritably when a knock came at his door. He rolled his eyes and gradually made his way to his door. On the other side stood Klaus, his eyes were downcast and he was nibbling his lip nervously.

“Klaus.” Five said directly. “Unless this is important, I’m busy.”

Five started to shut the door but Klaus reached out and held onto the door so it wouldn’t shut, gripping so tight his knuckles started turning white. “T-this is important…please.”

Five scowled but eased on the door. Something about Klaus was off, Five had noticed it but had cast it away because Klaus was Klaus, Five had never questioned it before. Klaus scrambled into the room quickly and climbed onto Five’s bed without permission. Five huffed and closed his door before mumbling, “Go ahead, make yourself comfortable.” 

“Um, I am.” Klaus seemed to have heard and was tapping his finger on his knee anxiously as Five stood near the bed. 

“What…” Five hesitated, trying to form his words so that he wouldn’t sound harsh; he didn’t want to upset Klaus more then he already was. “Uh, what’s wrong?”

“Well…dad brought me to the basement today.” Klaus started. “And…well…it kinda looked like where, you – um, we…found you. But…dad, he uh…”

Klaus trailed off. Five, intrigued and slightly concerned, gently flicked Klaus’ cheek to get him to continue. 

“Oh, he brought me down there. And he told me to sit in a chair. He said that he needed to make some, uh, modifications to the chair to make my power better or something. And…” Five’s eyebrows furrowed as Klaus’ eyes filled with tears. “…it really hurt.” 

Five watched as Klaus rubbed the many tears from his face, futilely. Five knew that their father held nothing back with Klaus, same as Five actually. Both boys were rebellious in nature, so obviously their training sessions would be a little more difficult. Five had lost respect for the old man completely when he jumped into a mausoleum to sit with Klaus when their father had locked him in there to confront his fear of the dead. Klaus was always very upset after training with Reginald, it was vindicated, of course. Though not always, sometimes it involved physical pain. And what the machine in the basement did was nothing that Five had ever felt before, and he was sure it was nothing that Klaus had ever felt before. Five wondered why Reginald would use Klaus for something like that. The machine was obviously built as a weapon against Five, though the boy had never thought that it could be used as a form of pain against any of his other siblings. Though it helped cancel Five’s abilities with a constant burst of fatigue and pain, it also inflicted pain, pinching nerves and sending volts of sharp agony down the body. That’s why Klaus looked so spacy at dinner. 

Five sat down next to the softly crying Klaus circumspectly. It went against all of his instincts, but Five reached over and collected Klaus’ hand into his own, gently and tenderly wrapping his slender fingers around his brothers’. Klaus was slightly surprised but appreciated his brother’s attempts at comforting. What he really needed right now, though, was a hug. Klaus looked over at Five, vision bleary through the tears. He smiled at Five. 

“I…I ready admire you.” 

“W…what?” Five was surprised by that. 

It was so out of the blue, Five wasn’t used to being praised in that way. Five was curious to know why Klaus had decided to come to him. Usually, he went to Ben for help; much like how Five usually went to Ben for help. It was obvious to Five that Klaus desperately craved some TLC and physical touch, so why did he come to Five? Even before the incident, Five was a little tentative about embraces. It all depended on his mood, he supposed. 

“Yeah, I really do.” Klaus sniffled. “You…you withstood so much pain and I could hardly even take it for…for five minutes.” 

“Five minutes straight?”

“Yeah…”

“Klaus, that…” Five had no words. “I can’t believe the old man. Five minutes!? That crazy—”

“Okay, but every time you say ‘five minutes’, I can’t hear the minutes part and it sounds like you’re talking about yourself in the third person, which is kind of weird.” Klaus managed so say through some soft cries. 

“Klaus.” Five heaved a breath. “I am not the one who you should be admiring. Take a look at yourself. I couldn’t even stand that thing for longer then a minute, but you did it for five whole minutes straight? How? I mean…Klaus, you are amazing.” 

Klaus’ eyes widened slightly, a smile stretching across his face. Five was bewildered at his own words. Where did they come from? Klaus’ smile faltered suddenly, and he shivered, face falling into his hand. He started crying again and shook his head. Five’s scowl was deep. 

“I’m sorry…it’s just…” Klaus continuously shook his head. “…it hurt so bad…and…I can’t stop thinking about it…it still hurts…”

Five sighed and pulled his hand from Klaus’ tightening grasp. He proceeded to lift his arm and tug at Klaus’ arm. Klaus looked over, tear streaked face contorting in confusion. Five opened his arms. Klaus acted faster then Five had time to blink. Klaus wrapped his arms around Five’s lean and still abused torso. Klaus buried his face into Five’s shoulder, body lax in the embrace. Five sighed softly and leaned his cheek against the top of Klaus’ head. He would never admit it, but he had missed the small moments like this. 

“Gosh, you’re so skinny…” Klaus said, voice muffled and tired. 

Five smiled, good to know that Klaus was still himself. Five scowled when his eyes brimmed with tears. He blinked his eyes to get them to go away, upset at the sudden bubbling of sentiment. This was ridiculous. 

“Five, if you need any help or anything I’m here—”

“I’m fine.” Five interrupted. “Focus on yourself.” 

Klaus tightened his grip on Five and closed his eyes as he listened to his brother’s heartbeat. It was comforting to know that Five was alive. The constant thump of his heart calmed Klaus. Five was alive and fairly well. He still had a long way to go, Klaus just wanted him to be comfortable around everyone. He knew that Five was still haunted, he could see it in his eyes. Why wouldn’t he just accept help? Klaus was determined to get Five to feel better. 

“Thank you…” Klaus said, beginning to doze. 

“Don’t mention it.” Five replied, voice soft and tired. 

Five was just to tired to care right now, that’s what it was. It wasn’t that he wanted to stay with his brother…or, well, maybe it was. Five wanted to share with Klaus his hardships. It was a moment of weakness. He quickly reminded himself that he could do it on his own, there was no reason for him to involve his siblings in something so trivial. He had to be stronger, for himself…and for them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeahhh so obviously, I'm going into a few deeper issues here, with Five's eating and stuff. So like, if I were in a situation like that, I felt like that was something I would focus on to be a little better too :) Anyways, you guys' comments are really encouraging for me to write! It's been a little difficult being sick and all, but whatever! 
> 
> Thanks!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to update for you guys! I'm so sorry about the wait, things have been crazy on my end! Enjoy the chapter, it's a bit short and filled with whumppp so sorry about that

It was around midnight when Allison went to the kitchen. At first, she was just thirsty for some water, but as soon as she entered the room, she found herself craving a midnight snack. So, she quietly put together a small snack and sat down at the table. In all honesty, Allison was extremely stressed out right now. With everything that had been going on, she had hardly even talked to Five. She felt just horrible about what happened. For once, she didn’t get everything she wanted. Five had been kidnapped and tortured, for goodness sakes. She could have stopped that. If she had only been there. Allison was so distracted, she held immense power and just relied on that. She got everything, and she just hadn’t been there to save Five. Allison sighed as she took a small nibble of the few crackers on the plate. She then reached for her glass of water and was midway through a sip when she was started by a flash of blue light and the sudden appearance of Five. Water splashed from the cup and landed on her pants. Allison cursed in surprise and stood abruptly when she felt the water seep through the fabric and touch her skin. 

“Allison?” Five asked and spotted where she had spilled. “Oh, sorry.” 

“Five, what are you doing in here?” She asked, exasperated. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Five murmured in response, turning away from her and pulling down a mug, he glanced back at her for a second before turning his attention to what he was doing. “Sorry about that.”

Allison, who’s heart beat was slowly getting back to normal, cleared her throat. “Uh, it’s fine. What…what are you doing?” 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Five questioned, every word dripping with sarcasm. 

“Making coffee.” She shot him an annoyed glare. “Since when do you drink coffee?” 

“Since now.” 

Allison was puzzled but shrugged. She used a towel to mop up the water that had fallen on the table and then used it to try and dry her pants. Allison released an irritated huff and sat back down in the chair. She sat in silence, the only sound was Five’s shuffling behind her as he finished making his coffee and finally sat down in a chair next to Allison. Allison peered over at Five’s cup and raised a questioning eyebrow. “No cream or sugar?”   
Five shook his head and took a sip of the black coffee. Almost immediately, his face scrunched up at the bitter taste, but he pursued anyways. A small laugh bubbled its way up Allison’s throat as she watched Five force the coffee down his throat like it was cough medicine. Five furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at Allison, challenging her silently. Allison laughed again and placed her hand over her mouth.

“Sorry, Five…it’s just, why are you drinking it if you don’t like it?” 

“The caffeine helps.” Five replied. “Keeps me awake. Have to get used to the taste of coffee sometime, and it’s much better for you without the cream and sugar.”

“Hm, you’re still on the food thing?” Allison sighed, “And, hey, why are you trying to stay awake? You look like crap. You definitely need sleep—”

“No.” 

Allison frowned, he had cut her off really fast. Allison pursed her lips, considering using her ability on Five, but ultimately decided against it. Allison reached over and gingerly placed her hand on Five’s, she was startled when he ripped his hand away. Allison, hurt, stared at her glass of water. Why did she think that was a good idea? What was she really expecting, anyways, Five had not been so keen on touching as of late. Allison lifted her hand and rubbed her neck, thinking somehow rubbing it would help the soreness of it go away. Her throat was sore, no, she wasn’t sick or anything, but it had been a long and difficult day of training with her father. Allison was just feeling tired and even a little guilty. Reginald had taken her out to test her ability, on other people. He apparently wanted to see how much she could make a person do. She had talked so much that her throat was sore, and her jaw was aching. Maybe it was a downside of her ability. 

“What’s wrong?” Five asked suddenly.

Allison inhaled a shaky breath and looked back over at Five, smiling softly. “Oh…I just did a lot during training earlier today.” 

“You were gone a long time.” Five stated matter-of-factly as he took another sip of his coffee. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah…” Allison hesitated, trying to form words in her mind. “…it’s just…sometimes, I just…feel…like I’m cursed.”

Five gave her a quizzical expression, prompting her to continue. 

“I know I should be grateful about my power, that’s what dad says at least…but, sometimes I think that I can’t get anything done for real. And…I just end up making people feel so bad. I hate that. And I don’t want…to hate myself for the way things go. Dad had me do some awful stuff today…and I…” Allison laughed humorlessly when she found it felt like her throat was closing; tears welled up in her eyes, she guessed that maybe she hadn’t really faced the problem head on. “I’m just sorry about it.” 

Allison didn’t really know why she was crying, she just was. It had been a long day, and she did feel guilty. The limits to her power were few, and Reginald had discovered that today. Allison just needed to get it off her chest, that really helped. She was alarmed when Five rested his hand on hers, just as she had done not that long ago. She glimpsed at his face, a little smile played on his face. He looked concerned for her, but also sympathetic. Five really was an enigma that Allison would never understand. 

“Dad is just a crazy old man.” Five said, words laced with bitterness. “Listen, don’t let your power define you. Be someone who can do things despite your supernatural abilities. You’re fantastic without them to. We’re all a little messed up. It’s never easy, lately it’s just been…difficult. Everyone’s kind of struggling, at least that’s what I’ve noticed. Don’t fret too much. No matter what you did, you know that we all still love you. Most of all Luther, I’d say.” 

Allison giggled and used a finger to wipe away a tear that spilled from her eye. She adjusted her hand so that she gripped Five’s slender fingers tightly. “Thanks, Five. Is…is it that obvious about Luther?” 

“Yeah, can’t say I’d score well on the discreet scale, though.” Five said, taking another sip of coffee. “I think it embarrasses the old man.” 

For once in a while, Allison’s smile was genuine. She appreciated this conversation. Five had never been quite so…well, kind to her before. She had never really had the opportunity to just sit down and talk with him. Late night confessions, she guessed. Honestly, Allison already felt much better then she had. Just talking and getting it off of her chest really helped, and then Five confirming she was appreciated was just extra nice. He was always looking so haunted. For a good reason, of course. It bothered her though. It was like his pride had taken a major blow, really it had. His usual smirk was never quite so prominent lately. He hadn’t been himself. He used to stand in a way that made him look entitled and cocky, his hands would rest in the pockets of his shorts, and he would smirk, lips almost pursed and one eyebrow raised like he knew something. It was absolutely infuriating when you were on the receiving end of that look. Five was just not himself. He had been distant, quieter. But something that hadn’t changed, he was still majorly withholding. But if this had helped her, maybe if Five were to open up then it would help him to? 

“Five…how are you doing?” She inquired. “Please…just indulge me.” 

“I’m okay.”

“Really? Because…well, I mean, just looking at you…you don’t look so great.” She said. “Like, you’re watching how much you eat, and you’re not sleeping. What’s going on, can I help?” 

“There’s nothing you can do,” said Five. “And I already told you I am okay. There’s no reason to be concerned.” 

“Yes, there is.” Allison insisted. “You were kidnapped and…and tortured Five. There’s no way you can be as ‘okay’ as you say you are. Please just talk to me.” 

Five was not going to have this conversation, he gulped down the last sip of his coffee and stood. “I have nothing to say. You better clean this up, dad will catch you if not.” 

And with that, Five was gone. Allison groaned. Dealing with him was hard. How could he be so helpful with Allison’s issue, yet not accept help with his own? Goodness knows he has his fair share of them. Allison was right, there was no way he could be alright. Why was he so stubborn? It seemed to Allison that he was a little butthurt about the incident. Five was to prideful for his own good. But he was also right. Allison needed to scurry back to her bedroom before she was caught. She didn’t feel like even looking at Reginald for at least another couple of hours. Allison, though satisfied with her midnight snack, was having a lot of trouble falling back asleep when she got back to her room. She was laying on her bed, staring up at her ceiling. She was tired, for sure, but her heart thumped in her chest and her thoughts were keeping her awake. Why was she so worried about Five? She had never been this worried in the past when he had come home injured. Admittedly, he had never gotten mortally wounded, but she always knew he would be okay; he always was. Not this time though. Five wasn’t Five. He was becoming obsessive and crazy. The food thing was just one indicator of how he felt mentally. It showed a lot about his mental state. He was definitely not okay. Allison had trouble understanding it, coming from Five’s perspective. She, of course, had always fantasized of having a perfect body when she was older and sometimes not ingesting food was involved in her conquest for that, but never to the lengths that Five was going to. He was purposefully avoiding it like the plague, yet also eating small amounts. He was smart. Allison knew that he was. All of them knew he was, Reginald included. Five was obviously not hiding it well, but the way he went about it wasn’t half bad. 

Still, it upset Allison that Five was going through all of this alone. She couldn’t imagine how much of a mess she would be if she had been in Five’s situation. At their age it was traumatizing. Five would always be that way. Five would always remember the men he mutilated first. Allison still had trouble believing that Five had been tormented. But they had found him. Five, covered in lacerations and contusions, wires and strapped down to a chair with a dead look in his eyes. Blood soaking his body and pooling at his feet. Thinking about it made Allison’s stomach churn. She had lost food over that. Getting home after that horrible event, she had run straight to the bathroom and threw up the scarce food she had eaten over the course of a few hours and then she had cried for a solid hour. Seriously? She had seen Ben’s power do more destruction, she had seen so much bloodshed and heard so many screams, yet this was different. This was Five. This was her brother. No matter how much of a smart, egotistical, prideful jerk he was, he did not deserve that. It had changed him, just that small bit of time with two insane and sadistic people. They were willing to torture a twelve-year-old kid to get what they wanted, true, Five was a super-powered twelve year old, but he was still a kid. Allison sighed and closed her eyes. She needed sleep. None of this was easy, but she needed to relax. Maybe Five would come to his senses soon? Allison didn’t realize how much she needed to talk until she actually did it. It helped.

 

It was six thirty AM, thirty more minutes until the Hargreeves began their morning routine. Five was awake. Of course, he was. He had been for the night. He saw on his bed, in a meditative position, palms resting on his knees. His eyes felt so heavy, they ached for sleep. Five couldn’t grant his body that luxury. It never was a luxury, not as of late. Having nightmares was just too overwhelming to him. It wasn’t worth it. Also, Five decided that he wasn’t worth it. He knew that it was ridiculous, but his self esteem had dropped. He didn’t deserve sleep; besides that, it would help his endurance. If he could manage to stay awake for so long, then he could endure sleep deprivation in the future if that ever was a problem. He couldn’t fall asleep even if he wanted to. Nightmares and terrors kept him up all night. It was untouchable. Five huffed and re-opened his eyes, he glanced down at his forearm. It was looking better, there was no bandage on it. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and his wounds were healing – he would guess that they wouldn’t leave scars, hopefully anyways. A scowl crept its way onto Five’s expression as an insufferable urge to itch resurfaced itself. It had been awful, that was one of the reasons that Five was trying to meditate. Five finally succumbed and carefully began to scratch at a long, jagged scar on his wrist. He continued scratching, the itch wouldn’t go away. Five closed his eyes and tried to focus his focus on something else. His impending failure, perhaps? 

Allison had even noticed his developing habits. Five felt sick, mainly with himself. The whole situation, actually. He inhaled and released a shaky breath. This wasn’t getting any easier. Wouldn’t that be what some kind of therapist would say? It’ll get easier. Bull crap. Klaus had mentioned a therapist, or someone to talk to. That was senseless. He didn’t need a therapist, he could be one for himself. Get by it himself. Accepting help from others would require him to admit his weakness. He couldn’t do that, not yet anyways. But for now, Five needed to focus on the real problem. His father had also noticed Five’s behavior and had even lectured him on it. He had demanded that Five change and obey, but he couldn’t. There was no way he could just change the habits he was slowly developing. So how could he do this a little more discreet? He wondered briefly if it was even possible under the keen and scrutinizing eyes of Reginald Hargreeves. He was far too keen on detail, and with all the camera’s around the house they could never truly get away with anything; Five was surprised at how much that Reginald actually let slide when it came to the sneaking around. Five’s eyes flew open and fell to his wrist when he felt a scab burst. The tips of his fingers were coated in a thin layer of crimson blood. His wrist had scratch marks becoming deep, bruises blossoming around the re-opened injury. Five cursed under his breath and pulled his sleeve up and looked around for something to clean it up when he heard a noise from the otherwise silent house. 

Five had become good at picking up the tiniest of noises. He jumped out of his room and right into Klaus’ room. Klaus, who had unshed tears in his eyes, yelped in surprise, while Ben just cursed in alarm. Klaus sat on his bed, knees drawn to his chest. His arms were wrapped around them, a hand gripping his other wrist, thought they shook. Ben sat next to him, a hand on his back. It was obvious that Ben had heard Klaus and came in to comfort him. 

“Five, what the—” 

“What’s going on?” Five demanded, interrupting Ben and approaching Klaus. 

“Dad and Klaus had some extra training today…” Ben said solemnly, eyebrows furrowing in sympathy as Klaus nodded.

Five’s attention turned to Klaus. “What kind of training, Klaus?” 

Klaus lifted his eyes and stared into Five’s. Klaus gave him a knowing look and anger flared inside of Five. Five’s hands clenched into a tight fist. Their father was despicable. Five had gone through the torment of being restrained by two strangers who were insane, and then again by his father. The seemingly ultimate apathetic sadist. Five could handle his own pain, but Klaus? Or any of them? How long would it take until Reginald decided to try the machine on the others besides Klaus? Use it as some sort of punishment? He could hardly stand that Reginald had used it on Klaus, but if he used it on Ben, or even Vanya or any of them, Five would be thoroughly pissed. But he was thoroughly pissed now. 

“Five…what – is that blood…?” Klaus asked, forgetting his own haunting anxiety and staring at the blood that dripped from Five’s wrist to the floor. 

Ben followed Klaus’ gaze and looked mortified, but Five didn’t see the issue; it wasn’t like he was bleeding out, and he was far to pissed off to be concerned or explain the situation to his worried brothers. He had to do something. He couldn’t just let this happen again. Five glared at Klaus and Ben and shook his head. “Irrelevant.” 

And he was gone. Ben and Klaus shared a knowing glance.

“Is he gonna be okay?” Klaus asked. “I feel like something bad is going to happen.” 

“He’s probably about to do something really outrageous…” Ben sighed. 

Ben was absolutely right. Outrageous as it may be, Five had to do the right thing. It was right. He could care less about the money spent on the project, or his father’s studies. This would not do, at all. Five jumped to the basement, into the room that both him and Klaus spent time enduring torment. Five’s stomach churned as he looked at the machine. Somehow, it looked even more sinister then before. Five felt absolutely sick and disgusted. Now, it definitely looked like a torture tool. Five was infuriated. His hands shook as he approached the machine. Five’s shaking hands gripped a staff that he had grabbed after jumping into one of the many training rooms. This was for his siblings, his family. This was for him. Destroying in insured the safety of Klaus and the rest of his brothers and sisters. So, he lifted the metal staff, and swung at the dome above the chair. It shattered satisfyingly. Some shards of glass reached Five’s hands, stinging as they embedded themselves into Five’s skin. But it didn’t stop Five. He continued to swing until the machine was completely destroyed. He kicked at the chair, tore the wires and demolished his father’s work. He had to, for the safety of his siblings. 

Maybe he was going insane. This was sure to bring him intense punishment. He couldn’t control the bubbling anger and terror that rose in his throat like bile. Panic welled in his chest, expanding and expanding like someone blowing up a balloon. His head and hands felt hot, sweltering actually, as he shouted in exertion as he continued to vandalize the machine. He had no idea why, but tears formed in his eyes as he did this. He thought back to the lifeless eyes of the men he had murdered. It occurred to him…he didn’t feel bad. It was never right to take a life of an innocent person. But they were not innocent. They deserved it. The expensive torture machine deserved it. Five was happy they were dead. Now, they wouldn’t be able to touch another person. They wouldn’t be able to hurt another person. Five was fueled with anger. His father was just like them. He used others, mainly his children¸ as tools for his personal gain. He tormented them as experiments, like they were just lab rats. He had torn their chance at a regular childhood away, filling it instead with high expectations and pain. Reginald’s plans for a perfect child were outlandish. Five would never respect that man. He couldn’t. His vision tunneled, and he could only focus on the machine in bits at this point. Cries escaped his lips, salty tears falling down as his face. There was a loud ringing in his ears, the only noise past the muffled sound of the world around him. 

He didn’t notice Pogo or Reginald in the room. He didn’t notice his own screaming, mixed with the fury filled voice of his father. He hardly felt the hands that gripped his shoulders and tore the staff away from him. He was brought back to reality when his head was thrown to the side by a harsh slap. Five stared at the ground when hands grasped his arms roughly.

“Number Five! What do you think you are doing?!” Reginald was enraged. “Do you realize what you have done? Your insolence will not be tolerated!” 

Five lifted his head, and stood a little taller, glaring at his father and rising to the cruel man’s challenging gaze. “I realize what I have done, and I have never been prouder of myself.” 

Five knew he had gone too far, but he couldn’t stop the words from falling out of his mouth. Foolish as it may be, Five was glad he did it. Klaus wouldn’t have to be awake crying anymore because of this machine. He was sure his father would construct something to challenge the machine, but for now Klaus was safe. Reginald grasped Five’s arm and pulled him out of the room. Five held in a whimper at the tight grip against his still healing injuries as he was led out of the room briskly. 

“You will be punished severely for this! And since you have insisted to continue your puerile eating and sleeping habits, I will proceed to expand your ideas onto Number Seven!” Reginald all but shouted.

This wasn’t about his siblings; didn’t anyone understand that? Five didn’t want to become self-absorbed, as he already was, but this was not about them. Bringing them into the whole situation would be selfish. Five was tugging at his father’s ridiculously tight grasp, digging his heels into he ground and hissing in pain as his healing injuries were agitated. Five knew that the ruckus had probably woken up his siblings, or the ones that weren’t already awake. Five did this for them. And he was willing to take the punishment for them. Five squirmed as he was dragged through a few hallways until they were outside. It was a chilly day; the air was humid and there was a small rain drizzle. Five was roughly pushed forward, he stumbled and fell. His palms and knees were instantly damp, the early morning moisture on the grass seeping through the fabric of his light blue sleepwear. Reginald was furious. 

“Jump to the kitchen and back.” Reginald demanded. 

Though Five was teeming with his own fury, he remembered Vanya and the fact that his father threatened to take her food away. It could get worse from there on, so he did it. Reginald required Five to jump long distances. Due to his already weak body, jumping so far was not easy. Every time he searched for the tug of his abilities in the pit of his stomach, he had to pull harder. A sharp pain pierced Five’s stomach as he returned to his father after jumping to the roof and back, out of breath and hunched over. His world was spinning, his head was aching, and he couldn’t regain air. 

“Again.” Reginald said. “Your bedroom and back.” 

Five felt like crying. But he didn’t and he absolutely wouldn’t. He had done enough of that already. His breath hitched, the familiar smell of ozone filled his nostrils as he pulled again. He fell into his jump, landing in his room. His body shook with exertion. This was all too much. Five was surprised he had held in throwing up by now. This had been a lot more, by just a little, jumps than he had ever done in the past; perhaps he was getting stronger? Five barely had the strength to push himself up on his elbows and jump back to where his father was. A cry of pain rushed past his lips as he reappeared outside. Five curled in on himself, trying flutily to muffle his grunts of agony. He could practically feel the eyes of Hargreeves bore into his back. 

“That is enough.” 

Five, gasping for breath and licking his lips in some attempt to rid himself of the nausea that was rising fast, looked up towards his father, “P…please…give…Vanya something…” 

Reginald stared down at Five, expression cruel and unwavering. “I think not today. If you can bring yourself to jump to your bedroom, I will permit her something to ingest tomorrow.” 

With that, Reginald turned and marched inside. Five’s vision swam, but he saw in the doorway to the house, the small forms of some of his siblings stood, watching with concern. Obviously, Reginald had forbidden them from coming to Five’s aid. Five squinted to try to look at their faces but couldn’t figure it out. They were talking, but too far for Five to hear. He felt so awful. His body felt hot, but it wracked with shivers constantly, not helping the severe nausea. Five squeezed his eyes shut, body screaming in pain. Five was too tired to do the same, though he felt as if he could most certainly, and wished to, in fact. Five clawed at the ground, dirt collecting under his finger nails. He just couldn’t quite do it. He pulled and pulled, trying to get his abilities to cooperate and do what they needed to do. This is for them. This is for my brothers. This is for my sisters. This is for Vanya. Five repeated it to himself. He swallowed down the bile climbing up his throat and cried out as he tapped into his powers. He saw the figures at the doors surge forward as Five screamed in anguish and disappeared in a blue flash. 

The moment that Five jumped into his room, he fell towards the trash can in his room and retched up scarce amounts of food. It hurt, it hurt so bad. He couldn’t concentrate on anything, not even how revolting the site of his sick was, or how disgusted he was with himself as he dry-heaved into his trash. The rancid smell was doing no favors to Five. He just continued to throw up, his own body betraying him. Though in all fairness, Five had betrayed it first. Five’s stomach twisted painfully, his hands shook from over exertion and he coughed saliva into the trashcan before pushing it away in disgust and collapsing on the ground in a heap. He inhaled sharply; every breath hurt. What a way to begin the day. 

Five weakly tried to push himself up on his elbows but failed. He fell back onto the floor, chest heaving up and down. Sweat plastered his hair to his forehead, dampening the dark locks. Five shivered at the feeling of hopelessness. This was how he felt when he had been kidnapped, albeit there was more blood involved, but the general feeling. Five shivered at the thought of the freezing room, blood dripping down his body and leaking out of every single wound. It was horrible. Five tried focusing on his ceiling, but his vision swam uncomfortably. It unnerved Five greatly. He heard the noise of the door being opened but couldn’t move to see who was entering. 

“Oh Five.” Said the sweet voice of Grace.

Five almost cried at the sincerity in her voice. Through it all, she had been there, robot or not. Her hand gently brushed against his cheek and she tisked in disapproval. Five whimpered when he felt himself being lifted off of the ground, support under his upper back and the backs of his knees. He was placed onto the soft mattress of his bed, head resting against the fluffy pillow; Five had never found it more comfortable. He held his eyes shut, willing the pain away. Something cold and wet was placed across his forehead, he assumed it was a damp towel. 

“You have a fever, dear.” Grace said, “You’re going to need to rest for a while. Do you think you can sleep for a bit?” 

Of course, Five did not want to sleep. But unfortunately, his body was turned against him. He was too weak to fight against the jaws of sleep, so he tiredly nodded a response to his mother and began to nod off. He fought his own body, not wanting to enter the depths of his mind and endure fever ridden nightmares. But he did anyways, at first it was bliss away from the pain that turned into a dull ache as he entered a dream state, but then the nightmares began. Five was too tired to pull himself out. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the Hargreeves were prepared for breakfast. Mother was not there, Reginald had told them that Five had fallen ill. Funny. Most of them had seen what had happened, the illness was not some kind of bug, it was induced because of Reginald. Reginald had told them to sit down to eat, and while the others looked down at the food that had been set out on the table before Grace left, Vanya sat staring at an empty plate. She didn’t say anything, though. Reginald still looked like he had steam coming from his ears. She would be fine for a day without food, miserable maybe, but fine. Klaus looked intensely guilty. He had seen what had happened to Five. He trembled at remembering running downstairs at the sound of a yell from outside, Ben at his heels. He had stopped by the back door, held back by Grace who looked as sad as they did. Five had been writhing on the ground, Reginald standing over him like a lion closing in on its victim. Klaus had cried out to his brother. He knew that Five had done something in Klaus’s honor, he was sure of it. Five seemed angry enough when he had left Klaus’s room this morning. 

It didn’t matter. Klaus felt beyond guilty. After all that Five had been through the past couple of weeks, he had more on his plate? His own abilities made him sick. Last time Five overused his abilities he was in his room for three days. That was prior to the situation that Five had found himself in with his kidnappers. Klaus was just upset. When would Five get a break? Everything seemed to be going wrong for him. It was like some strange force of evil was controlling his life and bringing misfortune to his every breath. Klaus looked over at Ben with wide eyes, trying to convey his emotions to his brother through the silence. Ben obviously understood the look. He was getting good at reading his siblings emotions and expressions. He too, had seen poor Five this morning. This would mean that Five would be alone again. Reginald was upset at him enough to punish him to that extent, Ben was sure none of them would be allowed to visit Five. Though Five claimed he wished for solitude, Ben wasn’t sure that was the best thing for him now. Five needed to talk, he needed to get everything off of his chest. He had been struggling by himself, and Ben knew that was a recipe for disaster. Self-destruction and self-loathing. Five probably blamed himself for getting kidnapped, he probably thought he wasn’t good enough for them. He needed to be by himself so he could protect the rest of them from experiencing a similar tribulation. Ben had read enough books about that sort of thing to understand Five’s mindset; he also knew Five. 

Breakfast ended, and then group training started. Ben glanced in the direction of Five’s room, wishing he could go in and comfort his brother. He passed Five’s room going to his own to change into suitable training clothes. Passing by, he could almost feel the heat of Five’s fever coming through the door. He could hear heavy breathing and choked sobs coming from Five, dead to the world and in a deep trance of sleep. Nightmare filled, Ben guessed. His heart sank. This wasn’t fair, Five deserved love and attention. Why couldn’t Ben just give him that? He wanted to make Five a platter of peanut butter and marsh mellow sandwiches and stuff them in Five’s mouth while his brother was in his bed. Ben wanted to be next to Five, offering support through words or physical touch. Goodness, he wanted to hug all the pain out of Five. Five was a stubborn brat most of the time, but he was Ben’s brother. And Ben understood Five a lot. They were close. Ben didn’t like to play favorites, but Five was one of his favorite brothers. Ben, Klaus and Five had almost formed some kind of trio before Five had been kidnapped. They were closer then ever, and now it was like Ben lost that with Five. He just wouldn’t talk to him. He wouldn’t open up and he wasn’t acting right. Withholding was usual, but haunted and sad. 

Alllison had also seen Five this morning, after the kitchen of course. She had seen him in the back. It hurt to see him in so much pain. She had to turn around and force herself not to watch. It brought back horrible memories of finding Five. After Reginald had stormed back inside, Allison ran to find Luther. When she had, she threw herself into his arms, and cried for a minute or two. Luther had been extremely confused until Ben explained what had happened. He had held her tight. Allison felt safe in his arms, she just needed a good cry. It had been to long. Diego had seemed upset when he had heard as well, all of them were naturally. Of course, it seemed like second nature to hear one of the siblings went through some kind of horror due to Reginald’s punishments. But the fact was, right now Five was very raw in his emotions. He had gone through torment, physically and mentally. Diego was raw with his emotions as well. It was too soon. He was still angry about what had happened to Five. He was still protective of Five. He had made sure every night that no one could get into Five’s room, or the house. Even though he knew that it was locked up, he couldn’t help it, nor risk it. Five was precious to him, to all of them. He couldn’t let that happen again. So, hearing about Five’s punishment filled him with rage. No, he would not be challenging Reginald today, but he was still upset. He needed to bring up his plan to the rest of his siblings soon. He couldn’t do it now, he hadn’t seen enough of Five yet, and also, his brother would be up in his room for the next few days getting better. Diego was positive they would not be permitted to visit Five. 

And Diego had also noticed that Vanya had not been served breakfast this morning. He briefly wondered what that was about. Vanya never ate much anyways, but the fact that she was given nothing was a little alarming. She looked tired enough, not giving her the protein that skinny girl needed to get through the day was just cruel. Diego wondered what she had done to deserve such a punishment. Things just seemed to be getting worse for them. All of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys! I hope you liked it, updates on the way (hopefully). Things will get better for our favorite family, I promise. ;D


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kinda a short chapter at 3574 words (generally short for me) but enjoy!!!

Even after Five had left his room, he still felt sick. He had completely overdone it. When he had finally come out – or, been allowed out – the routine went back to normal. Reginald refused to speak or even look at Five. Anytime that the boy thought his father was looking at him, he swore he saw his face flush in red anger. Five avoided any eye contact. He was going to be careful not to push it. But today was difficult as he was on ‘probation’ and his siblings went on a mission without him. Their first one since when Five was captured. 

Maybe he did screw up when he destroyed the machine. Still, he was glad he did it. None of them would have to go through that torment again. Five’s arms were crossed over his chest as he walked back and forth in his room. Ridiculous. Lately, Five hadn’t been speaking to them much. Granted, he had been locked in his room for a while, but after he came out, he felt more distant. He was completely mortified. When he really took a step back and looked at the whole situation, it was embarrassing. He couldn’t fight down the anxiety that – especially after he had been forced to sit out on their mission today – that his brothers and sisters would think less of him because of this whole incident. 

Today his siblings went on a mission without him; they returned beaten, bruised and defeated. Ben sustained a concussion as well as a deep laceration to tibial artery. He had lost so much blood. He was unconscious right now. Klaus’ wrist was broken, bruises and cuts splattered all over his face. Diego had a mild concussion, not close to what Ben had, but still not great. He had thrown up after coming back. Allison and Luthor were better. They only had bruises and cuts. All of Five’s siblings who went on that mission claimed their ears rang. 

Five was livid. He seethed as he paced around his room, fighting against the dizzying nausea that came and went in waves. Before, he thought it was completely unfair. Five supposed he had some kind of different punishment coming to him after the incident, but this? Five had been itching to get out of the confines of the manor and fight. He wanted to fight against the forces of evil with his siblings by his side. Smile in the face of defeat. He wanted something that would make him feel like less of a failure.

But now he felt like even more of a failure. He wasn’t able to go with them because he made a mistake. Though his powers were up and running again, he had been put on probation for being recalcitrant. Five’s breathing became quick as he thought about Ben. Five could only hear the thumping of his heartbeat. Erratic. He could feel the anger rising in his chest. He could feel the shame, guilt. If he had gone, maybe things would have been different? If he hadn’t been rebellious, maybe Ben would be okay now. Five had to fix this. He had to make it right. 

Their mission, out of the public’s eye because of Five, for the time being, (yet the press would still find out about it somehow) had been to put a stop to an inconspicuous weapon dealing organization. If something hadn’t been done about it, then there would be extra problems on the streets where the academy was. Five was sure his siblings sufficiently crippled them; as they explained there was an unsuspected trigger to booby-traps. First, an explosion had disoriented them, next they were surrounded and that’s how those lowlife thugs had gotten the upper hand. Five, firstly, couldn’t believe that his siblings had failed their mission. But if he thought about it, he understood. They were all still shaken from the last mission they were on. It was Five’s fault. They were trying to be wary and they ended up being overly cautious and forgot to do basic observation. 

So, as subtly as he could, Five picked up information from his injured siblings. While Reginald, Grace and Pogo were distracted with the wellbeing of the others, Five snuck out. No doubt, the criminals had moved their base of operations someplace else. That was obvious. Five just needed to figure out where. Their first headquarters was located in a place no one would suspect that weapon deals were going down. So, they knew what they were doing. They would need a place that was easy to find that they could recuperate quite fast so they could set up shop again. Five had a feeling that these men, professionals, had a place backed up in case something like this would happen. From his sibling’s explanation, it almost seemed like they were expecting them.

So, Five spent the majority of the morning scouting the real estate business, looking into the criminals old base of operations – thanks to the use of his abilities and keen thinking to find the files – and it was nearing evening when Five finally found where they were hiding out. It was farther away from most civilization, farther away from the city. Near the harbor, a large warehouse used for fresh catches, freezing and distributing perishable seafood that needed different storage approaches, was now being used as the cover for a dangerous, illegal organization. 

To any regular person’s eye, it was just a warehouse on the side of the dock that no one would enter except for the employees. But to Five, he could tell exactly what was going on. He could see the camera’s hooked up on the building, a much different model than any regular food industry fish storage unit would have, he could see the man walking around the perimeter of the building, wearing a bulky jacket to hide his firearm. He could see that this was not any normal warehouse. 

Unlike Five’s siblings, he was more mobile and covert. He could move with ease and not be seen. But he had to be careful. He had already used a lot of his energy popping into places to get files and he did still have injuries that he needed to think through before jumping headfirst into a fight. He needed to be smart about this. If he could take down the men, inside and out, get them incapacitated, he could make an anonymous call to the police so that the entire operation could be shut down more efficiently; less police officers would be hurt in that case as well. 

Five’s hands itched. His power buzzed beneath his fingertips as he constructed a plan. He didn’t want to kill anyone, that was already decided. He brought a weapon but planned on using it in a way that he could easily knock any of these men out as supposed to murdering them. Five didn’t want any more blood on his hands right now. Yes, he did bring a knife. Not the most conventional weapon to bring to a gunfight…but Five was confident he could do this. Five jumped – literally – into action. He first took out the man surveying the perimeter. He jumped behind him and swiftly used the back of the knife to hit a pressure point on the man’s person and down he went. Five, as fast as he came, was gone from that spot to avoid the cameras. He jumped inside of the warehouse this time, cringing at the smell of dead fish and cigarette smoke. 

It was cold, where Five was squatting in the rafters. He did a quick sweep of the floor below him, looking at the open area. His heart thrummed wildly in his chest, adrenaline pumping through his veins. There were a lot of men. Five could see some shouldering injuries – he knew they were caused by his brothers and sister. So, Five started again. He fell from the rafters, shouting as he went before jumping behind unsuspecting men. With their attention towards where Five had yelled, the boy had a better opportunity. He took men out swiftly and gracefully, smacking them on the heads with the knife, some a few times extra. Five could hear gunshots, so loud they made his ears ring. 

He dodged, amazingly and expertly. But he was beginning to get tired. He couldn’t, not yet. He swung, kicked, jumped and punched. He surprised himself. Some of the men were experts. Eventually, with six left, Five found himself surrounded. He panted, out of breath as he glared at the remaining men around him. So, these were the ones that were actually good. They trained their guns on him, some held machine, others classic handguns. In mock defeat, Five raised his arms above his head. 

“Hey, this snot-nosed brat…it’s the umbrella kid…” One of the men said. 

Five narrowed his eyes at this man. Five knew there was something familiar about him. It was one of the men that aided Five’s previous captors in his kidnapping. Five distinctly remembered his peculiar face, eyebrows bushier than Five had ever seen and eyes bluer than the ocean. He wouldn’t call them beautiful, though. Immediately, anger bubbled up inside of Five. He wanted vengeance. 

“Looks like you got your pathetic butt out before the police got you.” Five snapped, turning to face the man directly. “Shouldn’t have jumped into something so quickly.” 

The man cocked his gun, stance changing to a more defense pose. Five’s glared hard, venom in his gaze. The man’s expression faltered a moment, surprised to see such a look of hate on a twelve-year-old. Five figured that the others with their guns still trained on him were waiting until this pathetic man who had been beat up by a group of adolescents, sufficiently identify Five. The man scanned Five’s person, making the boy uncomfortable. A scowl appeared on the gun wielding man. 

“What in the heck did they do to you…?” He asked, voice full of confusion.

It wasn’t concern. This man was aiming his bullets to kill Five. He didn’t feel remorse obviously. Five snarled, an inhuman growl coming from his throat. He must have spotted the lingering cuts and bruises and the little white bandages peeking out from his sleeve. But mostly, he noticed the haunted look in Five’s eyes. 

“What are you doing here, kid?” The man asked, seemingly hesitant to shoot Five on the spot; the rest of the men surrounding Five looked eager. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” Five said, building up his energy to make a move. 

“I needed work. Needed money. Don’t care much the job.” 

Despicable. This man would hurt children – albeit, Five was not quite an ‘innocent’ child – to gain fortune? Five had long since expected humanity to act horrendous. Five lowered his arms and curled his hands into fists, footing changing as he prepared to attack. The men around him noticed just too late. Five blinked behind each of the men, disarming them and knocking them out as efficiently as he could. It was a little more difficult than the other men. Two more left. One of them was the man that Five had been talking with earlier. 

Five cried out when his head snapped to one side and there was a fist in his abdomen, irritating one of his old wounds. Five had disarmed both of the men and was now engaging in hand-to-hand combat. He wasn’t doing so great. He was dizzy and now his side throbbed. Oh well. Five ducked as a punch was thrown again. He swiped his small, but strong, leg underneath one of the men’s ankles and knocked him over. He jumped behind another and kicked him in the back of the knees. Five returned to the one struggling to get up and smacked him across the temple with the butt of the knife. And then Five was on the man that had been involved in Five’s capture.

He didn’t care if this man had any idea what was going to happen to Five, he had to take this anger out on someone. He jumped behind the man and slid the knife into his shoulder. With a cry, the man fell onto his stomach. Five hopped on top of him and pulled his injured arm behind his back, eliciting another cry from the man. 

“Hopefully you’ve learned from your actions.” Five growled into his ear. “You were part of the reason I was in a mess, and you keep coming back. You hurt my siblings today. If you ever mess with me, or any of my family ever again then I swear that I will kill you in the worst way I can think of. Got it?” 

“Y-you…you are insane! You’re a sadist! A monster!”

Five growled and tugged his arm again. “I asked you a question.” 

His voice was laced with a deadly tone. The man froze beneath Five and nodded fervently. Five stood up. “Good. Hopefully you and your friends can live with yourselves by being taken down by a ‘snot-nosed brat’.” 

Thwack! The man was out before he could respond to Five’s statement. Five sighed and looked around him. Maybe he was a monster. Five grunted and held onto his side before tying up loose ends – literally. He jumped out of the warehouse and found a nearby payphone. He called the police anonymously, using the deepest voice he could muster to fool the cops. And then, Five was on his way back home. Really, he couldn’t do a lot of jumping right now. He needed some sustenance to restore his energy. Over the time he spent in his room, he decided to actually work on his sad attempts not to eat. 

All that it was doing was making his spatial jumps less effective and causing him more problems. He was constantly dizzy, nauseous and tired. Those were the results of overusing his powers on low energy. Not only that, he knew his actions had consequences to Vanya as well. He couldn’t risk her not having any food. It was wrong. So, Five slowly made his way back home by walking. When he felt up to it, he took a leap and jumped as far as he could in front of him, but even that was exhausting. 

He knew it was not a good idea to be out so late in the city while he was so useless. He didn’t want to be caught in a situation that he couldn’t get out of. Luckily, Five ended up being okay. No one seemed to question a twelve-year-old beat up kid walking through the streets. Five made it back to the academy and inhaled sharply before jumping in. 

Five expected to find his father waiting for him, punishment ready to be dished out, but he was surprised when he didn’t find his father anywhere in sight. Five’s thoughts immediately went to Ben. He rushed to the medical room as quick as his tired legs could carry him – well, maybe relying on his powers all the time wasn’t so great. He needed to run more. When he saw that his brother wasn’t there, he went to his room. Five found Ben in bed, Grace was hovering around him and trying to get him to drink some water. 

“Oh, Five,” she said, smile appearing on her face. “I was wondering when you would get back. Oh my, it seems you’ve injured yourself. I’ll tend to you as soon as I am finished with Ben, here.” 

Ben was awake. He was groggy and looked pretty worse for wear. His ankle was wrapped and propped up. It wasn’t bleeding quite as profusely as it was when he had first arrived back at the academy. Ben looked up at Five, he smiled before it vanished when he made eye contact. Before Ben could say anything, though, Five opened his mouth.

“How are you.” 

“I’m a lot better than I was. Thanks to mom.” Ben smiled at Grace lovingly. “I have a concussion but I’m not so out of it anymore. I couldn’t remember some stuff when I first woke up. And the bleeding stopped on my ankle, so I’m mostly just sore and I guess I’m on a bit of pain medication for…the pain. Five. Where did you go, and why does it look like you were in a fight?” 

Five didn’t say anything. 

“You were in a fight.” Ben sighed. “Oh go—Five, did you go after the people that we fought today!?”

Five remained silent. Of course, that gave Ben all of the answers. Stupid, smart Ben. 

“Five. Seriously…that was really irresponsible. You know dad is gonna find out. Scratch that, he probably already knows. You’re in enough trouble as it is and—”

“So what.” Five grumbled. “It was worth it.”

Ben scowled. “Wait…did you actually manage to take them down?” 

Five’s lips were drawn into a thin line as he watched Grace force a few more sips of water down Ben’s throat before turning to Five and beckoning for him to sit in the chair next to Ben’s bed. Five ignored Ben’s gaze on him as Grace checked out Five’s face and then forced him to lift his shirt. She tisked and removed the gauze covering the small part of Five’s abdomen. 

“Looks like you have aggravated your injury, here. This one just will take longer to heal now.” She said, almost disapprovingly. 

“Five. Please answer me.”

“Fine, yeah, I took them down. I found their hideout away from hideout and surprised the crap out of them. I also found one of those men connected to my kidnapping.” Five said, glaring at Ben as he said the words. “They hurt you guys. Those idiots hurt themselves by setting up booby traps that would hinder their main base of operation. It wasn’t hard since most of them were already halfway out of commission.” 

“Whoa, wait…one of those guys was connected to what—”

“Yes.”

“Five…honestly I just…”

“It happened, Ben. It is over with and there is nothing that we can do about it. And…don’t feel guilty. You guys did your best, there are obstacles that we can’t foresee sometimes.” 

“I don’t feel too guilty anymore. I had the whole day to reflect on what happened and for dad to lecture all of us about our negligence. I know what you’re trying to do. Five, I can see that you’re hurting. I can see it in your eyes. Coming into contact with someone involved in what happened couldn’t have been easy for you, right? Talk to me.”

“You’re right.” Five mumbled, answer surprising Ben greatly. “It wasn’t easy seeing someone involved. But, it was easy to take him down. You know, I could have killed him. And I wanted to. It could have been so easy. But…I don’t want to become a cold-hearted killer. Only when I need to be…but…”

Ben tried to catch Five’s gaze when the boy hesitated.

“I’m not a monster, am I?” 

“What?”

“You saw what I did to them.” Five responded. “You see how I react to everyone.”

“You’re not a monster.” Ben said. “You’re just coping.” 

Five cursed himself silently. He scowled and looked away from Ben, crossing his arms and watching as Grace organized the desk on the edge of the room. 

“But you are careless.” Ben said. “Do you want a scar? Do you want to be injured so bad that you can’t do anything? Dude give it a rest and relax a bit. Your other injuries won’t heal if you don’t.” 

Five simply nodded, too tired to care. His eyelids were drooping suddenly. Five fought. He couldn’t fall asleep.

“Five, dear,” said Grace, coming and gently taking Five by the elbow. “it’s time that both of you get some rest. Let me take you to your room. Ben, I will return swiftly to situate you.”

“Thanks mom.” Ben said with a smile, and then found Five’s eyes. “Goodnight Five. Sleep well.”

“Yeah, you too…” Five muttered. 

The walk to Five’s room proved more difficult than Five had thought. He hadn’t anticipated on a sudden spell of dizziness as he reached the hallway to his room. It was so bad that Five almost fell, had Grace not been there to catch him.

“Oh my.” She said, a concerned look passing over her face. 

Really, dad, brilliant. Five thought to himself, for once praising the man on such a well-made creation. Five found himself being ushered into his room and then he was in bed. And then Five had a nightmare. Which, of course, he couldn’t tell was a nightmare at first. It was just a like a vivid memory. It felt like Five was reliving everything, but worse. When Five awoke, panting and gasping for air, much later in the night than when he had gotten into bed, he realized it was in fact a nightmare. He almost wept. 

“Why won’t they stop!?” Five cried to himself. 

The nightmares just seemed to get worse and now there was a buzzing and uncomfortable pain in his head accompanying every second. That wasn’t normal, was it? It was safe to say that anything about Five wasn’t normal. But then Five was pulled, unwillingly, through a spatial jump. He found himself falling two feet into the floor in the foyer. He hadn’t ever really had problems with uncontrolled spatial jumps. Now, that wasn’t normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya guys! I am so so so sorry about the delay. I know this chapter isn't much...but I really wanted to get something to you guys. Like, really. The wait was ridiculous. And I do not want to be someone who abandons their story! I am really going to try to update asap and atually finish the story!!! I hope that it wasn't too OOC or bad or anything! (Also it didn't let me italicize anything. lol) Review and tell me your thoughts! I love seeing stuff from you guys, it's so encouraging.

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter! More to come soon. ;) This is my first work on this site.


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